TY - JOUR JO - Biology of Sport SN - 0860-021X VL - 38 IS - 1 PY - 2021 ID - Wilke2021 TI - Increased visual distraction can impair landing biomechanics AB - Failed jump landings represent a key mechanism of musculoskeletal trauma. It has been speculated that cognitive dual-task loading during the flight phase may moderate the injury risk. This study aimed to explore whether increased visual distraction can compromise landing biomechanics. Twenty-one healthy, physically active participants (15 females, 25.8 ± 0.4 years) completed a series of 30 counter-movement jumps (CMJ) onto a capacitive pressure platform. In addition to safely landing on one leg, they were required to memorize either one, two or three jersey numbers shown during the flight phase (randomly selected and equally balanced over all jumps). Outcomes included the number of recall errors as well as landing errors and three variables of landing kinetics (time to stabilization/TTS, peak ground reaction force/pGRF, length of the centre of pressure trace/COPT). Differences between the conditions were calculated using the Friedman test and the post hoc Bonferroni-Holm corrected Wilcoxon test. Regardless of the condition, landing errors remained unchanged (p = .46). In contrast, increased visual distraction resulted in a higher number of recall errors (chi2 = 13.3, p = .001). Higher cognitive loading, furthermore, appeared to negatively impact mediolateral COPT (p < .05). Time to stabilization (p = .84) and pGRF (p = .78) were unaffected. A simple visual distraction in a controlled experimental setting is sufficient to adversely affect landing stability and task-related short-term memory during CMJ. The ability to precisely perceive the environment during movement under time constraints may, hence, represent a new injury risk factor and should be investigated in a prospective trial. AU - Wilke, Jan AU - Giesche, Florian AU - Niederer, Daniel AU - Engeroff, Tobias AU - Barabas, Sebastian AU - Tröller, Saskia AU - Vogt, Lutz AU - Banzer, Winfried SP - 110 EP - 127 DA - 2021 DO - 10.5114/biolsport.2020.97070 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2020.97070 ER -