kinetics, body composition, segmental analysis, take-off limb

The objective of the study was to assess differences between the take-off and non-take-off limbs of athletes intrack-and-field jumping events based on a segmental analysis of body composition as well as kinetic analysis. Theresearch included 19 participants (10 males, 9 females) with an average age of 18.1 ± 2.8 years. We measured bodyheight, body mass, body composition (body fat, fat free mass, bone mineral content and bone density) and segmentaldistribution of these variables. To assess strength of the lower limbs, we performed reaction force analysis during takeoffand run symmetry. The difference in the representation of soft tissues between the take-off and non-take-off limbswas not significant; the differences were 0.06%, 0 kg in body fat and 0.01 kg in fat free mass. The differences in thevalues of bone matter were significant. The bone mineral content was 0.05 kg higher in the take-off limb (p < 0.001),and bone density was 0.07 g/cm2 higher (p < 0.001); the practical significance of the difference was intermediate (d =0.5). Kinetic analysis showed that athletes exerted greater force on the pad with the take-off limb than the non-take-offlimb when taking off while using arms in the first peak of the vertical force. The difference determined in this type oftake-off was statistically significant (p < 0.05); the practical significance of the difference was medium (d = 0.7). Thedifference in the second peak of the vertical reaction force in the take-off arm was not statistically significant. Thedifferences were reflected in the different bone matter compositions.