Experimental Research on a Method of Externalizing Three Pairs of Six Muscle Systems in the Thigh for Developing Jumping Skills

Abstract

The existing tools to enhance jumping are mainly aimed at increasing the amount of jumping, however, in order to consider ways to develop jumping skills other than quantity, such as the direction of jumping and the way of landing, the authors focused on the human skeletal muscle arrangement itself including bi-articular muscle. We devised a method to investigate the effect of manipulating the elastic function on jumping by reconstructing the artificial muscle systems outside the body based on three pairs of six muscle systems in the thigh. Then, by arranging tension coil springs corresponding to each muscle systems, we developed a wearable mechanism that allows each tension to be adjusted freely. Finally, we investigated whether the mechanism had effects on the jumping movements by measuring the floor reaction force and joint angle.