Volume 6, Spring 2008 - Saddleback College

Fall 2007 Biology 3A Abstracts
which included athletes (N=18) and non-athletes (N=25), was measured. With their
feet flat beneath them and a piece of masking tape wrapped around their index,
middle, and ring finger, the participants jumped vertically placing the tape on the
wall at their apex. This was repeated two more times. The distance was measured
from the reach height to the vertical jump height. The maximum vertical jump
height was used for analysis. From the Lateral Malleolus up to Popliteal Fossa, the
6
calf lengths were measured. Athletes (55 2.13 cm) significantly (p= 1.3 10 )
jumped higher vertically then non-athletes (37.5 2.22 cm). Between the calf lengths
of the athletes (38 0.90 cm) versus the non-athletes (37.5 0.74 cm), no statistical
difference was shown. There was no correlation found comparing the athletes’ and
non-athletes’ vertical jump heights versus calf lengths (R 2 =0.40, R 2 =0.58, R 2 =0.59).
Introduction
Among sports, vertical jumping is common
and varies for its purpose. It has been used as a way to
measure lower body power and to test one’s athletic
ability. A vertical jump consists of a force being
applied to the body’s mass, while the body is still in
contact with the ground, in order to accelerate it to the
maximum (Kreighbaum and Barthels, 1996). This
movement of vertical jumping produces its power from
the quadriceps group, ankle plantarflexors, and hip
extensor muscles (Kowalski, 2003). Furthermore, the
muscle type in these areas will aid in a higher vertical
jump for most cases as studied by Curley (2000). There
are two muscle types: fast twitch and slow twitch
muscle. Fast twitch muscle is the most idle for vertical
jumping because the neurons in the muscle fire at a fast
rate causing the sudden rush of power to the lower
body. The slow twitch muscle does not generate the
same amount of power; thus, the vertical jump height
will not be as high. Another study showed that during
the last part of pushing-off, the compliance of
tendinous structures would allow muscle-tendon
complex to generate a moderately large power at a high
joint angular velocity region, which would help with
the vertical jump height (Kurokawa et al., 2000).
However, in this study, a correlation between
calf length and vertical jump height will be compared
with the participants, athletes, and non-athletes to
determine if having a longer calf length will increase
vertical jump height. It will be done without a warm up
because Koch and associates found that warm-up has
no effect on jumping performance (Koch et al., 2003).
A second study will be done comparing the vertical
jump height of the athletes and non-athletes. It is
expected that athletes jump higher than non-athletes,
and that there is a correlation between calf length and
the vertical jump height.
Materials and Methods
Athletes (N=18) and non-athletes (N=25)
ranging from 16 to 38 years old participated in this
study. The participants wrapped a piece of masking
tape around the index, middle and ring finger and
placed it as high on the wall as their reached allowed.
Without warming up, each participant jumped
vertically with their feet flat beneath them, placing the
tape on the wall at their apex. This was repeated two
more times. The highest vertical jump was used for
each participant. The distance between the reach height
and vertical jump height was measured. The calf
lengths were measured from the Lateral Malleolus up
to Popliteal Fossa, the region behind the knee.
The maximum vertical jump height versus calf
lengths for all subjects were plotted to determine if
there was a correlation between the calf length and
one’s vertical ability to jump higher. A second
correlation was done between athletes and non-athletes.
A student unpaired t test was run comparing vertical
jump height; p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistical
difference between athletes versus non-athletes.
Results
Athletes (55 2.13 cm) had a statistically
6
(two tailed, p = 1.3
10 ) higher vertical jump than
non-athletes (37.5 2.22 cm) as shown in Fig 1. There
was no difference between the calf length of the
athletes (38 0.90 cm) versus the non-athletes (37.5
0.74 cm), which is seen in Fig 2. Between the
participants’ vertical jump height (44.82cm, N=43) and
their calf lengths (38cm), no correlation was found
(R 2 =0.40) as seen in Fig 3. Into athletes and nonathletes,
both shown together in Fig 4, there was no
correlation found for both (R 2 =0.58, R 2 =0.59) between
the vertical jump height and calf length.
82
Saddleback Journal of Biology
Spring 2008