Context: The aquatic environment provides a low-impact alternative to land-based exercise and rehabilitation in older adults.
Objective: Evaluate the biomechanics of older adults and young adults performing jumping movements on land and in water.
Design and setting: Cross-sectional, mixed-factorial experiment; adjustable-depth pool at sports medicine research facility.
Participants: Fifty-six young adults (age = 22.0 [3.9] y) and 12 healthy older adults (age = 57.3 [4.4] y).
Interventions: Each participant performed 6 maximal effort countermovement jumps: 3 jumps were performed on land, and 3 other jumps were performed with participants immersed in chest-deep water.
Main outcome measures: Using data from the amortization and propulsive phases of jumping, the authors computed the following kinetic and kinematic measures: peak and mean mechanical power, peak force, amortization time and rate, unweighting and propulsive times, and lower-extremity segment kinematics.
Results: Mechanical power outputs were greater in younger adults (peak: 7322 [4035] W) versus older adults (peak: 5661.65 [2639.86] W) and for jumps performed in water (peak: 9387 [3981] W) versus on land (peak: 4545.84 [1356.53] W). Peak dorsiflexion velocities were greater for jumps performed in water (66 [34] deg/s) versus on land (4 [7] deg/s). The amortization rate was 26% greater in water versus on land. The amortization time was 20% longer in older adults versus young adults.
Conclusions: Countermovement jumps performed in water are mechanically specific from those performed on land. Older adults jumped with longer unweighting times and increased mechanical power in water. These results suggest that aquatic-based exercise and rehabilitation programs that feature jumping movements may benefit older adults.
Keywords: aging; aquatic; functional mobility; plyometric.