Adjusted Landing Technique Reduces the Load on the Achilles Tendon in Badminton Players
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Achilles tendon (AT) rupture is common among recreational male badminton players. We hypothesize that a landing technique following forehand jump strokes with the landing foot in a neutral position often performed by recreational players and occasionally by elite players may expose the AT to higher loads than a scissor kick jump (SKJ) technique with the leg/foot externally rotated. The study aimed to investigate if recreational players could reduce the load in the AT when adopting the SKJ technique compared to their habitual landing technique with the foot in a neutral position and secondarily to compare the AT force between recreational players and elite players. Ten recreational male players performed simulated jump strokes in a biomechanical laboratory using both their original technique and the SKJ technique traditionally used by elite players. For comparison reasons ten elite players performed SKJs. Landing kinematics and AT forces were captured and calculated using 3D movement analysis. The landing leg was more externally rotated in the recreational players´ adjusted technique (78 ± 10 degrees, p < 0.001) compared to 22 ± 21 degrees in recreational players´ original technique. The peak AT force of the recreational players was significantly higher for the original technique compared to the adjusted technique (68 ± 19 N/kg vs. 50 ± 14 N/kg, p = 0.005). Additionally, the peak AT forces observed during the recreational players’ original technique was higher, though not significantly, than those observed for elite players (55 ± 11 N/kg, p = 0.017). α = 0.016 due to a Bonferroni correction. These findings indicate that recreational badminton players that normally land with the foot in a neutral position, may reduce their AT load by 25% when adopting the SKJ technique of elite players and land with the leg/foot in an externally rotated position.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Sports Science and Medicine |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 224-232 |
ISSN | 1303-2968 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
Badminton World Federation has funded the study with a grant. The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, but are available from the corresponding author who was an organizer of the study.
- Biomechanics, foot work, scissor kick jump
Research areas
ID: 325467942