AN EMPIRICAL AND MODELING ANALYSIS OF THE AREA-ELASTIC SURFACE IN A GYMNASIUM

Abstract

The external load acting on an athlete during landing on area-elastic surfaces in gymnasiums is an important factor concerning overload injuries. Nevertheless, there is a lack of force measurements on this kind of surface. This study describes technical problems of these measurements and presents an easy method to calculate the most important characteristics of an area-elastic surface: spring and damping functions and accelerated mass. When using suitable non-linear spring and damping functions the simulations with the model of the surface lead to results, which agree very well with empirical measurements (r2 = .99, p<.001). An accurate description of the gymnasium's surface is a first step for the aim to reduce the number of overload injuries.