Comparison of the lower extremity stiffness and its variability between different forms of hopping test

The aim of this study was to compare the lower extremity stiffness and its variability between three different forms of hopping test. 30 young healthy and physically active students performed three different forms of hopping, bilateral, unilateral, on dominant leg and unilateral on non-dominant leg with a control strategy (frequency 2.2 Hz) to determine the lower extremity stiffness variables. Different forms of hopping were compared by one way ANOVA repeated measure test. The research findings indicated that lower extremity stiffness depends on the form of hopping test. The results also showed less variability of unilateral stiffness than bilateral stiffness, which may be indicate that unilateral hopping has simpler motion pattern. Therefore, it seems better to use unilateral hopping test as a standard test to determine lower extremity stiffness in healthy subjects rather than bilateral hopping test.