Gravity in Sports

Most people do not like physics and chemistry and math and.... all those things we all learn in school. Most of us wondered why we had to learn all that. Sometimes knowing a little about physics won't hurt us..... Yes! Even in sports! We all know what the gravity is and all know that it exists every where we go on Earth. And it's constant everywhere. And it is FREE to use!! The gravity can be your best friend or your enemy. It depends on how you use it. When we do rehabilitation and exercise, we think about the gravity all the time to effectively and efficiently use it or to eliminate it. Let's say you are being measured for a max vertical jump. When you are standing straight on the ground, you are experiencing something called ground reaction force (GRF) which is the same as your body weight. Your weight pushes down on the ground and the ground pushes you back up. That's why you are not sinking into the ground or you are not being pushed up in the air. How high you can jump depends on how well you can use GRF. How well you can maximize it and how efficiently you can use it. Athletes with more weight potentially have more GRF they can use because GRF varies with body weight. However, they have to be stronger to be able to jump because they are heavier. So how can we maximize it? Stand on a scale and see how much you weigh...staining straight...and then try moving your arms up and down or bend your knees. You should see the number of the scale go up for a moment. That's one way to jump higher. Use your legs and arms. Another way to do that is to do a little hop before you jump up (this is usually not allowed when you are being measured though). Any object in the air has something called potential energy and it depends on its mass and its height. When you hop straight up before you jump, you are creating an extra energy that you can use because when you land from the hop, GRF is higher. Try hopping on a scale (without breaking it) to see what happens when you land on it. However, a flip side of this is that when you jump you have to land too. The higher you jump, the bigger the force your body feels and needs to absorb is. A good thing is that you have shock absorbers in your own body...muscles. Muscles are like springs. They can create a force for you to use and can dissipate it. A lot injuries happen during landing and its cause is multi-factorial. A failure to absorb a force when you land will put stress in your body (joints, muscles, bones, etc) If you do not land in a right way, your body will feel extra stress that you may not feel when you land correctly. Over time, it could lead to an injury. You also have to have enough muscle strength to do it. You need to have right muscles working at the right time too. Bad mechanics will interfere with it. Especially in sports where jumping is a major part of, it becomes even more important to be able to utilize the gravity and also able to protect your body from it. Gymnastics, volleyball, figure skating, basketball, etc etc etc. Hope this makes a little sense. The gravity can be your best friend or can be your worst enemy. But it is up to you to make it your BFF!!!