Introduction: Lighter basketball shoes enable higher vertical jumps for basketball players due to increased peak ankle joint power1. Besides vertical jumping, basketball involves frequent short-duration sprints with one sprint every 21s lasting 1-4s2. The purpose of this study was to determine whether shoe weight also affects the performance and lower-extremity biomechanics in short-duration sprints. Methods: Performances of healthy, male subjects (age 25±3.4, n=22) in a sprint start and a 10m - sprint were measured in 3 basketball shoe conditions (light = 352±18.4g; medium = 510±17g; heavy = 637±17.7g) using a timing light system. Each subject accomplished 6 sprinting trials per shoe condition with maximum level of effort. Lower-extremity kinematics and ground reaction forces of the first sprinting stride were captured by a high-speed motion analysis system. Ankle joint kinetics were derived using an inverse dynamics model. Results: Subjects wearing the light shoe significantly (p<0.05) decreased their sprinting times by 2.6% (0.02s) and 1.6% (0.03s) for the sprint start and the 10m-sprint, respectively (Figure 1a). In light shoes, the work performed by the ankle joint was significantly (p<0.05) decreased by 14% for the first half of stance and increased by 5% for the second half of stance (Figure 1c). Discussion: Light basketball shoes enabled higher performances in short-duration sprints compared to heavy basketball shoes. The modifications of ankle joint kinetics suggest that lighter shoes reduce the energy absorption during the initial deceleration phase of stance while allowing increased energy generation during the propulsion phase of stance and thus, provide performance enhancement.
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