Assessing a smartphone application to measure counter-movement jumps in recreational athletes

Abstract

The use of counter-movement jumps as a measure of neuromuscular performance in athletes has become common in the sport setting. Accurate methods of measuring jump parameters are often expensive, difficult to transport and require expert knowledge. A new smartphone application (My Jump) claims to be a valid and reliable tool for assessing jump height but is yet to be evaluated by independent researchers. Sixty-one recreational athletes (30 male/31 female, mean AE SD; age: 20 AE 4 years) each performed three counter-movement jumps (totalling 183 jumps) on a force plate following a standardised warm-up. All jumps were recorded using an iPhone 6 s and analysed for jump height (m) and flight time (s) using the My Jump application. Jumps were compared between a force plate and My Jump for validity with inter-scorer reliability also assessed. Results show that My Jump is valid (mean bias ¼ 0.9 cm, r ¼ 0.96) and reliable (typical error of estimate ¼ 1.4 cm) for assessing jump performance in recreational athletes using an iPhone 6 s with a 240 Hz high-speed camera. My Jump is a cost-effective and easy-to-use alternative for measuring vertical jump performance without the need for specialist equipment or expertise.

Assessing the Validity of the MyJump2 App for Measuring Different Jumps in Professional Cerebral Palsy Football Players: An Experimental Study (Preprint)

“…Another factor that deserves further comments is the type of jumps assessed here. The CMJ and SJ are consistent with the current literature [14,16,17,26,27]. Another important aspect of the present study is that it appears as the first work using the application in a Paralympic sport, in which it is known that physical assessements are lacking and should be increased [28].…”

“…Given the portability and practicality of MyJump2™, smartphones can quickly become a standard method for assessing physical performance in the field with great precision in CP Football. The comparison between MyJump2 TM and other methods, such as force platforms [14][15][16] and the field method (Vertec) [25], is important to consolidate the app. This is justified by the use of few force platforms in field evaluations, which raises the importance of the comparison between MyJump2 TM and other field methods [25].…”

“…In this sense, the MyJump2 TM app becomes a viable option that evaluates the height of the jump. This app provides the data acquisition quickly and immediately, allowing easy monitoring in almost any environment [13], with a high reliability and reproducibility in vertical jumps [14][15][16]. However, it is necessary to validate this app in different populations and sports, which justifies the present study that aims to evaluate the reliability of the measures of the MyJump2™ app to assess vertical jumps in professional CP Football.…”

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“…More recently, the smartphone app MyJump has been developed for iOs devices that use the high frame rate video camera for the assessment of vertical jumps. The validity and inter-and intra-reliability of the instrument have been verified (Balsalobre-Fernandez, Glaister, & Lockey, 2015;Driller et al, 2017;Gallardo-Fuentes et al, 2016).…”

“…Both for athletic and non-athletic populations, an improvement in jump height corresponds with better functional performance (Çakir-Atabek, 2014). Therefore, vertical jump tests are used by sport professionals to obtain information about several neuromuscular and performance qualities of individuals (Driller, Tavares, McMaster, & O'Donnell, 2017).…”