, tennis, and volleyball, also require cutting and turning in both the lateral and frontal planes. 15 For optimal performance, athletes in all of these sports require increased ankle stability. Agility tests demand quick deceleration, direction change, and reacceleration during the movements. 16 These 3
Search Results
Javad Sarvestan and Zdeněk Svoboda
Damien M. Hess, Christopher J. Joyce, Brent L. Arnold and Bruce M. Gansneder
Context:
Agility training has been proposed as an important tool in rehabilitation. However, it is unclear which types of agility training are most useful.
Objective:
To assess the effects of agility training on balance in individuals with functionally unstable ankles.
Design:
A 2-group experimental design with repeated measures.
Setting:
Laboratory.
Patients:
Twenty college-aged volunteers, each with 1 functionally unstable ankle, were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups.
Interventions:
Subjects in the experimental group performed agility training 3 times per week for 4 weeks.
Main Outcome Measures:
Subjects were tested for static single-leg balance before and after the training period. Anterior/posterior sway amplitude, medial/lateral sway amplitude, and sway index were assessed using the Chattex Balance System.
Results:
No significant differences in balance were found after the agility training.
Conclusions:
Agility training did not improve static single-leg balance in subjects with functionally unstable ankles.
Jaci L. VanHeest, Jim Stoppani, Tim P. Scheett, Valerie Collins, Melissa Roti, Jeffrey Anderson, George J. Allen, Jay Hoffman, William J. Kraemer and Carl M. Maresh
Objective:
To determine the effects of Vicoprofen® and ibuprofen on aerobic performance, agility, and pain after exercise-induced muscle damage.
Design:
Double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled, repeated-dose clinical trial.
Setting:
Human-performance and sports-medicine laboratory.
Participants:
36 healthy men.
Methods and Measures:
Baseline testing was performed, 72 hours after which subjects performed eccentric exercise to induce muscle damage. They were evaluated for pain 24 hours postdamage and placed randomly into 3 groups: Vicoprofen (VIC), ibuprofen, or placebo (P). Postdamage testing was performed every day for 5 days. Subjects performed an economy run and a t-agility test to determine exercise performance.
Results:
The drugs had no significant effect on performance throughout the 5-day evaluation period. Pain was lower at days 4 and 5 in the VIC group than in P.
Conclusions:
It appears that Vicoprofen reduced pain after muscle damage, but the drug interventions did not enhance performance in aerobic and agility tasks.
Jay Hertel, Craig R. Denegar, Phil D. Johnson, Sheri A. Hale and W.E. Buckley
Two studies were performed to estimate the reliability of the Cybex Reactor in assessing agility tasks. In Study 1, participants (n =13) underwent identical testing sessions twice in 1 week. In Study 2, participants (n = 13) underwent identical testing sessions twice in 1 week, once 3 weeks later, and once 6 weeks later. Testing sessions consisted of four identical agility tasks requiring participants to react to cues shown on a video monitor. In Study 1, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were .47 for Day 1 and .75 for Day 2 for time to complete each task. Participants performed faster on Day 2 (p < .05). In Study 2, ICC ranged from .58 to .83. ICC between sessions ranged from .59 to .73. Participants performed significantly faster each successive session except between Weeks 3 and 6 (p < .05). The Reactor appears to be reliable in assessing agility tasks with test–retest intervals of up to 6 weeks.
Tania Spiteri, Nicolas H. Hart and Sophia Nimphius
The aim of this study was to compare biomechanical and perceptual-cognitive variables between sexes during an offensive and defensive agility protocol. Twelve male and female (n = 24) recreational team sport athletes participated in this study, each performing 12 offensive and defensive agility trials (6 left, 6 right) changing direction in response to movements of a human stimulus. Three-dimensional motion, ground reaction force (GRF), and impulse data were recorded across plant phase for dominant leg change of direction (COD) movements, while timing gates and high-speed video captured decision time, total running time, and post COD stride velocity. Subjects also performed a unilateral isometric squat to determine lower body strength and limb dominance. Group (sex) by condition (2 × 2) MANOVAs with follow-up ANOVAs were conducted to examine differences between groups (P ≤ .05). Male athletes demonstrated significantly greater lower body strength, vertical braking force and impulse application, knee and spine flexion, and hip abduction, as well as faster decision time and post COD stride velocity during both agility conditions compared with females. Differences between offensive and defensive movements appear to be attributed to differences in decision time between sexes. This study demonstrates that biomechanical and perceptual-cognitive differences exist between sexes and within offensive and defensive agility movements.
Alison Locke, Michael Sitler, Christopher Aland and Iris Kimura
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a softshell prophylactic ankle stabilizer (PAS) on performance in events involving speed, agility, and vertical jump during long-term use. The events examined were the 24.384-m sprint, 12.192-m shuttle ran, and vertical jump. Subjects were high school basketball players who were randomly assigned to either a PAS (n = 11) or a nonbraced control (n = 13) group. Results of the study revealed that the softshell PAS had no significant effect on any of the three performance events tested over a 3-month basketball season. However, there was a significant difference in 24.384-m sprint and 12.192-m shuttle run times across test sessions regardless of treatment group. In conclusion, the softshell PAS neither enhanced nor inhibited performance in activities involving speed, agility, or vertical jump during long-term use.
Christine Bocchinfuso, Michael R. Sitler and Iris F. Kimura
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two semirigid prophylactic ankle stabilizers on vertical jump, 80-ft sprint, shuttle run, and four-point run performance. Eight male and seven female high school basketball players, who denied prior ankle injury and prophylactic ankle stabilizer experience, completed the four performance events under the conditions of Active Ankle Training Brace, Aircast SportStirrup, and nonbraced control. Data analyses consisted of four 1 × 3 ANOVAs with repeated measures on the independent variable of brace condition. Results of the analysis revealed no significant differences among the experimental conditions for any of the performance events tested. In conclusion, the Active Ankle Training Brace and Aircast SportStirrup did not facilitate or adversely affect performance involving speed, agility, and vertical jump of high school basketball players.
Morteza Ahmadi, Giti Torkaman, Sedigheh Kahrizi, Mojdeh Ghabaee and Leila Dadashi Arani
Context:
Despite the widespread use of whole-body vibration (WBV), especially in recent years, its neurophysiological mechanism is still unclear and it is yet to be determined whether acute and short-term WBV exposure produce neurogenic enhancement for agility.
Objective:
To compare the acute and short-term effects of WBV on the H-reflex-recruitment curve and agility.
Design:
Cross-over study.
Setting:
Clinical electrophysiology laboratory.
Participants:
20 nonathlete male volunteers (mean age 24.85 ± 3.03 y).
Main Outcome Measures:
Subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups, H-reflex and agility. In the sham protocol, subjects stood on the turned-off vibration plate while maintaining the semisquat position, and then, after a 2-wk washout, vibration-training sessions were performed in the same position with a frequency of 30 Hz and an amplitude of 3 mm. H-reflex-recruitment curve was recorded and the agility test of a shuttle run was performed before and after the first session and also 48 h after the 11th session in both sham and vibration-training protocols.
Results:
Acute effects of WBV training caused a significant decrease of threshold amplitude and H-max/M-max (P = .01 and P = .04, respectively). Short-term WBV training significantly decreased the threshold intensity of the soleus H-reflex-recruitment curve (P = .01) and caused a decrease and increase respectively, in the threshold intensity and the area under the recruitment curve.
Conclusions:
The results suggest an inhibitory effect of acute WBV training on the H-reflex response.
Guillaume Mornieux, Elmar Weltin, Monika Pauls, Franz Rott and Albert Gollhofer
agility with the 5-10-5 yards test, jump height, ie, leg muscle power, with countermovement jumps (CMJ) and core strength with a cable lift test. This latter test targets the action of hips, torso rotators, upper back, chest, and shoulders while turning the trunk away from the strength machine as the
