The effect of acute fatigue on reactive strength index in modern dancers

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute fatigue on stretch shortening cycle (SSC) performance measured by the Reactive Strength Index (RSI) derived from a drop jump. Methods: Twelve professional modern dancers (8 female, 4 male) participated in this study. Two force plates were utilized to record the force-time data during drop jumps (DJ) before and after an acute, fatiguing protocol. Dancers performed a 5-10 minute self-selected warm up followed by 3-5 practice trials of DJs onto the force plates. Three trials were recorded from each dancer with 30-60 seconds (s) of rest between trials. Following the first 3 trials dancers underwent 2 minutes of continuous rope jumping. After 30s of rest following rope jumping dancers performed 3 more trials of drop jumps. Cronbach\u27s alpha was used to assess reliability across trials, and a paired t-test was used to determine differences in RSI before and after the rope jumping protocol. Results: There was no significant difference between best nonfatigued reactive strength index (NFRSI) and best fatigued reactive strength index (FRSI) when compared (p = 0.136). Conclusions: Elite modern dancers are able to maintain jump performance following acute fatigue. Future research should investigate the effect of specific training for lower body power in modern dancers. Research to guide understanding the importance of supplemental training in modern dance performance could be key in preparing future dancers for the demands of elite dance requirements