Plyometric Exercise in the Rehabilitation of Athletes: Physiological Responses and Clinical Application

Abstract

Plyometric exercise was initially utilized to enhance sport performance and is more recently being used in the rehabilitation of injured athletes to help in the preparation for a return to sport participation. The identifying feature of plyometric exercise is a lengthening of the muscle-tendon unit followed directly by shortening (stretch-shortening cycle). Numerous plyometric exercises with varied difficulty and demand on the musculoskeletal system can be implemented in rehabilitation. Plyometric exercises are initiated at a lower intensity and progressed to more difficult, higher intensity levels. The progression to higher-intensity plyometric exercise is thought to resolve postinjury neuromuscular impairments and to prepare the musculoskeletal system for rapid movements and high forces that may be similar to the demands imposed during sport participation, thus assisting the athlete with a return to full function. While there is a large body of scientific literature that supports the use of plyometric exercise to enhance athletic performance, evidence is sparse regarding the effectiveness of plyometric exercise in promoting a quick and safe return to sport after injury. This review will describe the mechanisms involved in plyometric exercise, discuss the considerations for implementing plyometric exercise into rehabilitation protocols, examine the evidence supporting the use of plyometric exercises, and make recommendations for future research. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2006;36(5):308-319. doi:10.2519/ jospt.2006.2013 Key Words: jump training, neuromuscular, return to sport, stretch shortening P lyometric exercise is a popular form of training commonly used to improve athletic performance. 18 The stretchshortening cycle, which involves stretch of the muscle-tendon unit immediately followed by shortening, is integral to plyometric exercise. The stretch-shortening cycle enhances the ability of the muscle-tendon unit to produce maximal force in the shortest amount of time, 3,82 prompting the use of plyometric exercise as a bridge between pure strength and sports-related speed.22 Maximaleffort plyometric training, or ''shock training,'' was first introduced to Russian athletes to aid the development of explosive ''speed-strength. '' 92 Research on the shock method of training examined drop jump heights PO Box 100154, HSC, Gainesville, FL 32610. E-mail:tchm@ufl.edu of over 3 m, which possibly pushed the limits of safety, but also demonstrated the high-intensity of early plyometric techniques.

Intensity rankings of plyometric exercises using joint power absorption

“…Plyometric exercise, a well-established tool used to improve sports performance and to prevent injury, has recently been adapted for lower-extremity rehabilitation (Chmielewski et al, 2006). Regardless of application, common recommendation is to gradually increase the intensity of the plyometric exercises to avoid setbacks (Chmielewski et al, 2006;Ebben, 2007).…”

The Effects of Functional Training on Pain, Function, and Performance in Taekwondo Players with Mechanical Low Back Pain

“…As mentioned, integration training in the functional protocol is a part of plyometric training which focuses on muscular subsystems, while the plyometric training alone has significant effects on the increase of the function and performance level of players [35] [36]. The effects of plyometric training represented by Norris and other researches and include increased inhibition of antagonist muscles, better co-contraction of synergistic muscles, inhibition of neural protective mechanism and increased motor neuron excitability [22] [37]. So the effects of plyometric training can be interrelated with increased level of performance (Ap Douliou Chagi kick, in both speed and movement time Since physical and psychological factors such as stress, motivation, and so on affect the movement time of kick, it should be noted that regardless of the results of the present study, further studies with different protocols are needed to prove the effects of training on decreased movement time in both legs [38].…”

Physical therapy in the conservative treatment for anterior cruciate ligament rupture followed by contralateral rupture: case report

“…Plyometric exercises increase joint stability and muscle power, being used in various ACL injury preventive programs 14 . The core stability is defined as the ability to control the stem in response to the internal and external disturbances, and studies indicate that increased trunk stability decreases the risk of knee injuries, especially in women 23,24 .…”

“…A bipedal and single leg plyometric training was conducted by controlling the knee dynamic valgus 14 . In this phase, we also initiated core stabilization exercises with dorsal, lateral and ventral bridges 15 and sensorimotor training recommended by the University of Delaware [16][17][18] .…”