ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between toe muscular strengths and single and/or repetitive jump performances on different directions (vertical or horizontal) in athletes. Thirty two male collegiate students participated (athletes group n=24, control group n=8). Two types of measurements were performed to evaluate toe muscular strengths: toe pushing force (TPF) with the metatarsophalangeal joint (MPJ) at neutral position (0°) and the MPJ in the dorsiflexed position (45°). Jump performances were assessed by press jump (vertical jump and standing broad jump) that measures jumping height or distance, and rebound jump (rebound jump and repetitive hopping) that measures “RJ-index” (the jumping height divided by the contact time). Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between the toe muscular strengths and the performances of each jumping test. There were significant correlations between TPF with the MPJ in the dorsiflexed position and the performances of the repetitive hopping and rebound jump in athletes (P<0.05), but no significant correlations were found in controls. Also, there were no significant correlation between TPF and the performances of vertical jump and standing broad jump of all groups. These results suggest that, TPF in the dorsiflexed positions is one of the indicators that affect repetitive jump performance.