Kinematic and kinetic variable determinants on vertical jump performance: a review

Abstract

The vertical jump is a task performed in various sports modalities and is considered a lower limb power test, that may provide information about the efficacy of several training programs. Although of the various types of jumps, two have been more used: the Squat Jump and the Countermovement Jump. Kinematics and kinetics variables are presented to describe the Squat Jump and Countermovement Jump, however, little is known about which variables are intrinsic in vertical jump performance. Thus, this review has two objectives: 1- Identify the kinetic and kinematic variables of jump analysis and 2- Describe the intervening variables in VJ performance. For the search, the following terms were used “Vertical Jump and Kinetic”, “Vertical Jump and Kinematic”, and “Vertical Jump and Fatigue”. The search was performed between June and July of 2019. The articles of this review were searched in two online databases: PubMed (MEDLINE) and EBSCO (EBSCO Industries Inc.). After the analysis of titles, abstracts and papers, were chosen 70 articles for this review. Although necessary in various motor skills, the maximal force does not predict the vertical jump performance. In contrast, kinetic variables related to power may interfere to performance. For kinematic analysis, the peak angular velocity seems to differentiate performance levels. Few studies defined the predictor variables of this task. Therefore, we suggest the realization of studies with predictive statistics to identify the predict variables of vertical jump and adopting other biomechanical variables, such as the continuous relative phase and temporal and force characteristics during the eccentric and concentric jump phase.