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The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of wearable local vibration therapy (VT) on muscle soreness, joint position sense, and dynamic balance in recovery after squat exercise. Twenty males (age: 22.25±1.97 years) participated in the study. Muscle soreness, joint position sense, and dynamic balance were evaluated before exercise, 24 and 48 hours after exercise. All participants performed six sets of 10 repetitions of squat exercises. VT was applied to one thigh of the participants randomly for 10 minutes after exercise, and the other thigh was determined as the control. The muscle soreness increased significantly for VT (p.05). No significant difference was found between VT and control (p>0.05). No significant difference was found after exercise at knee joint position sense for both conditions (p>.05). No significant difference was observed between VT and control (p>.05). There was a significant difference between before exercise and 48 hours after exercise at anterior direction of the modified Star Excursion Balance Test for VT (p=.033). A significant difference was found between before exercise and 24 hours after exercise at posteromedial (p=.012) direction for VT. There was only significant difference at posteromedial (p=.028) direction at 24 hours after exercise between VT and control. The wearable local VT after squat exercise did not affect muscle soreness and knee joint position sense. However, local VT contributed to the improvement of dynamic balance.

Badminton is one of the most popular racquet sports in the world. The agility and vertical jump are important motor skills to hit a shuttlecock in badminton game. The purpose of this study was to investigate effect of plyometric training on vertical jump and agility in adolescent badminton players. Twenty adolescent (age, 12.5 ± 0.2 years) badminton players were randomly divided into two groups as plyometric group (PG) and control group (CG). All participants were tested to assess agility and vertical jump before (pre-test) and after 6-weeks training period (post-test). Agility performance was assessed with Illinois Agility Test. Vertical jump height was measured with squat jump test using a contact mat. The PG performed plyometric training twice a week, for 6 weeks. There was a significant difference between pre and post-test for squat jump test in both PG (26%) (p = 0.00) and CG (10%) (p = 0.016). However, squat jump height significantly increased in PG compared with CG (p = 0.024). The agility significantly improved in PG (6%) (p = 0.01), but not CG (2%) (p = 0.294). Our results show that a six week plyometric training improved agility and vertical jump in adolescent badminton players. Badminton game requires fast changes in direction, vertical jumps, forward lunges around the court. Badminton coaches should take place plyometric exercises in training program.

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationship between core stability, dynamic balance and jumping performance in soccer players. Seventeen male soccer players (mean ± SD: age, 21.06 ± 1.71 years) participated as volunteer in this study. Dynamic balance of the participants were evaluated at directions of anterior (A), posteromedial (PM) and posterolateral (PL) with Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT). The core stability was evaluated with trunk flexion, side bridge, and trunk extension tests. For jumping performance, squat jump height was measured using a contact mat. There was a negative correlation (r = -0.705) between trunk flexion test and squat jump height (p lt; 0.002). No significant correlation were identified between trunk flexion, side bridge, trunk extension tests and squat jump height (p gt; 0.05). There was no significant correlation between trunk flexion, side bridge, trunk extension tests and SEBT values (p gt; 0.05). The results of this study suggest that trunk flexion is associated with squat jump height in soccer players, but not side bridge and trunk extension tests. The core stability does not contribute significantly on dynamic balance.