ABSTRACT
The indirect estimation of the gymnast's reaction forces, through the inverse dynamics, whether during the acrobatic series and/or on the springboard, could be very helpful to coaches and scientists to optimize their gymnasts' performance and to prevent injuries. There are only a few studies that estimated gymnasts' reaction forces at take-off during acrobatics series and/or vault table by inverse body dynamics. Smith analysed the backward salto via kinematic analysis using inverse body dynamics. Bessem Mkaouer et al. used a concomitant dynamic and kinematic analysis to evaluate reaction force during acrobatic series at the floor exercise. R. Hooke's method combined with kinematic analysis was applied to evaluate the reaction force by recording the spring compression of the springboard. The Smith method seems to be very effective during the floor exercises whereas the Hooke method seems to be more adaptable to the vault table to optimize the jumps.
