Playing Basketball on Wooden and Asphalt Courts-Does Court Surface Affect Foot Loading?

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the influence of court surface on foot loading when executing typical basketball tasks. Thirteen male basketball players performed three basketball-related tasks: Layup, jump shot, and maximal effort sprint on wooden and asphalt courts. In-shoe plantar loading was recorded during the basketball movements and peak force (normalised to body weight) was extracted from eight-foot regions. Perceptions of discomfort at the ankle, knee, and back were surveyed using a 10-cm visual analogue scale. Landing from a layup on the wooden court resulted in elevated peak forces at the hallux (p = 0.022) and lesser toes (p = 0.007) compared with asphalt court. During the sprint acceleration step, higher peak forces were observed at the hallux (p = 0.048) and medial forefoot (p = 0.010) on wooden court. No difference between court surfaces was found for perception ratings at the ankle, knee, or back. These results suggested that players can experience greater impact forces at the toes and medial forefoot when performing basketball tasks on the more compliant wooden court than asphalt courts.

Home Advantage in Para-Sport

“…Additionally, studies have also found that the quality and type of playing surface affects several physiological and biomechanical aspects of propulsion, in particular in lower-classed players (Crespo-Ruiz et al, 2011). Temporary wooden basketball courts have been found to result in the requirement of higher peak forces to generate movement (Kong et al, 2018). Therefore, dependent on the cushioning and the resistance of the court, players would be required to expend more energy to propel the wheelchair.…”

Smart Socks and In-Shoe Systems: State-of-the-Art for Two Popular Technologies for Foot Motion Analysis, Sports, and Medical Applications

“…Another study [95] evaluated the extent to which foot loading is affected by the court surface (wood or asphalt) on which basketball is played. For this purpose, three tasks related to basketball were performed, both on wood and asphalt courts, by the study participants: layup, jump shot, and maximal effort sprint.…”

“…The application of Pedar-X for basketball players [95] might evolve mainly three new directions: obtaining also kinematic data, such as sprint speed or jump height; evaluation of the stiffness for various court surfaces (besides wood and asphalt, used in the study); taking into account not only the plantar forces, but also the joint kinetics.…”