Supra-threshold vibration applied to the foot soles enhances jump height under maximum effort

PLoS One. 2022 Apr 6;17(4):e0266597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266597. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that absence or reduction of cutaneous sensory feedback can diminish human motor performance under maximum effort. However, it has not been explored whether any appropriate intervention in the cutaneous sensory input can augment the output motor performance, particularly in motor tasks such as jumping that involve the kinematic chain of the entire body. Using shoes with active vibrating insoles, we applied mechanical vibration to the soles of 20 young and healthy adults and evaluated the change in the jump height and muscle activation using within-participants repeated measures. The noise-like vibration having an amplitude of 130% of the sensory threshold of each participant led to an average increase of 0.38 cm in the jump height (p = 0.008) and activation of the rectus femoris of the dominant leg (p = 0.011). These results indicate that application of a properly designed cutaneous stimulus to the soles, the distal end effectors of motor tasks, can augment the output performance by involving the prime movers distant from the end effector.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Athletic Performance / physiology*
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Feedback, Sensory
  • Foot* / physiology
  • Humans
  • Leg / physiology
  • Muscle, Skeletal / physiology
  • Shoes
  • Vibration*

Grants and funding

JA acquired all the fundings for this study, including the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grants funded by the Korean Government (MSIT) (No. 2016R1A5A1938472); the Technology Innovation Program (No. 20008912) and Industrial Technology Innovation Program (No. 20007058, Development of safe and comfortable human augmentation hybrid robot suit) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea); and the research Grant funded by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. URLs, https://www.nrf.re.kr/eng/main/https://english.motie.go.kr/www/main.dohttps://www.sait.samsung.co.kr/saithome/main/main.do No, The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.