Further Research Accolade for Dr Steffi Colyer and Dr Aki Salo

News
CAMERA Further Research Accolade for Dr Steffi Colyer and Dr Aki Salo

Another article by Dr Steffi Colyer and Dr Aki Salo (with researchers Dr Ryu Nagahara and Dr Yohei Takai) has been selected as the Editor’s Choice for December 2018 in the prestigious Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

How sprinters accelerate beyond the velocity plateau of soccer players: Waveform analysis of ground reaction forces.

The forces applied to the ground during sprinting (as well as aerodynamic drag) directly determine an athlete’s acceleration, which is clearly important to many athletics events, but is also fundamental in many team sports. However, as higher running speeds are attained, it becomes increasingly more difficult to produce enough force against the ground to continue accelerating. Inevitably, there comes a point where an athlete cannot accelerate any further and their velocity plateaus. Collaborating with researchers (Dr Ryu Nagahara and Dr Yohei Takai) from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya in Japan, home to a unique 50-m long force-plate system, Dr Steffi Colyer and Dr Aki Salo were able to investigate the specific parts of force production that allow faster sprinters to continue to accelerate when slower individuals (soccer players in this case) experience a plateau in velocity.

The sprinters were able to better tolerate braking (negative horizontal) forces shortly after (~30 ms) ground contact and generate higher propulsive (positive horizontal) forces later in the stance phase compared with the soccer players (differences were from ~30-80% and ~90-100% of the stance phase). Collectively, force production during these specific phases of stance allowed sprinters to continue to increase their centre of mass velocity beyond that of the soccer players. As well as contributing to the fundamental understanding of sprint running biomechanics, such findings can be used to inform coaching and guide athletes’ training to improve acceleration at high velocity.

Read the full text here.

You can read more about their other article that was selected for Editor’s Choice here.

Keep Up To Date?

Join Our Centre Newsletter