ArticlePloS one2013
Effects of isometric scaling on vertical jumping performance.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- RNAi of the elastomeric protein resilin reduces jump velocity and resilience to damage in locusts.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Beyond power limits: the kinetic energy capacity of skeletal muscle.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Review
- Dynamic similarity and the peculiar allometry of maximum running speed.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Control of high-speed jumps in muscle and spring actuated systems: a comparative study of take-off energetics in bush-crickets (Mecopoda elongata) and locusts (Schistocerca gregaria).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2023Article
- The Force-Velocity Profile for Jumping: What It Is and What It Is Not.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2023Article
- A theory of physiological similarity in muscle-driven motion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Parallel And Divergent Morphological Adaptations Underlying The Evolution of Jumping Ability in Ants.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Article
- Predictive Simulations of Musculoskeletal Function and Jumping Performance in a Generalized Bird.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Why do Large Animals Never Actuate Their Jumps with Latch-Mediated Springs? Because They can Jump Higher Without Them.Integrative and comparative biology · 2019Article
- Anthropometric Clusters of Competitive Cyclists and Their Sprint and Endurance Performance.Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
- Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism.The Journal of experimental biology · 2016Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
1 author.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Jump height, defined as vertical displacement in the airborne phase, depends on vertical takeoff velocity. For centuries, researchers have speculated on how jump height is affected by body size and many have adhered to what has come to be known as Borelli's law, which states that jump height does not depend on body size per se. The underlying assumption is that the amount of work produced per kg body mass during the push-off is independent of size. However, if a big body is isometrically downscaled to a small body, the latter requires higher joint angular velocities to achieve a given takeoff velocity and work production will be more impaired by the force-velocity relationship of muscle. In the present study, the effects of pure isometric scaling on vertical jumping performance were investigated using a biologically realistic model of the human musculoskeletal system. The input of the model, muscle stimulation over time, was optimized using jump height as criterion. It was found that when the human model was miniaturized to the size of a mouse lemur, with a mass of about one-thousandth that of a human, jump height dropped from 40 cm to only 6 cm, mainly because of the force-velocity relationship. In reality, mouse lemurs achieve jump heights of about 33 cm. By implication, the unfavourable effects of the small body size of mouse lemurs on jumping performance must be counteracted by favourable effects of morphological and physiological adaptations. The same holds true for other small jumping animals. The simulations for the first time expose and explain the sheer magnitude of the isolated effects of isometric downscaling on jumping performance, to be counteracted by morphological and physiological adaptations.
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