Gymnastics Research Paper

Words: 674
Pages: 3

Landings, in the sport of gymnastics, or better known as dismounts, occur very frequently and are commonly the cause of many injuries. Landings following advanced and challenging skills occur at the end of a routine and more repeatedly during the floor exercise. Gymnasts are naturally exposed to a high frequency of impact landings and may be required to perform dismounts in excess of 200 times a week (Marianne and Gareth, 2012). Performing a dismount requires a great amount of courage, precision, and body control to land correctly. While performing a dismount, the gymnast leaves the apparatus and is expected to land back on the ground after traversing anywhere from one to four meters in the air all the while experiencing relatively high velocities (Geiblinger, McLauglin, and …show more content…
2012). A successful and safe landing depends on the body position during the flight phase of the maneuver before coming in contact with the ground.
Rolland suggests that one of the key factors in a controlled landing is balance, and in order to achieve a state of balance, the body must exert enough resistance to counteract the forces that throw the body out of balance (Rolland, 1987). Landings, or dismounts, performed by elite gymnasts could be the difference between winning or losing a major competition, and represent one of the most extreme conditions where the body must respond to high impact forces while simultaneously figuring out how to stick the landing (Geiblinger and Helmut, 1998). While falling, or landing in this case, from great heights, the body’s vertical force, kinetic energy, and momentum are directly related to the distance through which it falls, due to the exponential effect of gravity (Adrian and Cooper, 1989). Vertical impact forces with magnitudes of 14-18 times body weight were recorded in double back tucks, and asymmetric landings. In each leg the same double back tuck maneuver showed magnitudes reaching 8.8-14.4 times the