{"id":1492,"date":"2021-07-30T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/usc-dornsife-researcher-puts-olympians-on-track-to-win-at-the-games\/"},"modified":"2024-07-31T15:49:22","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T22:49:22","slug":"biomechanics-olympians-to-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/biomechanics-olympians-to-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"USC Dornsife researcher puts Olympians on track to win at the Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3523-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3523-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"USC Dornsife researcher puts Olympians on track to win at the Games\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC Dornsife researchers use strobe video to help identify athletes\u2019 performance strengths and weaknesses. (Photo: Courtesy of Jill McNitt-Gray.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>USC Dornsife researcher puts Olympians on track to win at the Games<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  By using tools such as force plates and high-speed video to map out athletes\u2019 body movements, Jill McNitt-Gray is helping competitors in the horizontal jumps reach peak performance \u2014 and avoid injury. <strong>[5 min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Meredith McGroarty<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">July 30, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>The young woman accelerates rapidly, launching into a short sprint that takes her down the runway to the takeoff board, where she uses one foot to launch herself upward. Keeping control over her body during flight, she lands feet-first into the sand pit and pitches forward.<\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s time for technology to take over.<\/p>\n<p>Reviewing the strobe-motion video of the jump, the data gleaned from the athlete\u2019s body motion and readings from the force plates below the runway,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1003520\">Jill McNitt-Gray<\/a>, professor of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/bisc\/\">biological sciences<\/a>\u00a0and biomedical engineering at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, charts out the jumper\u2019s velocity and jump angle, the load placed on the takeoff leg and other variables in order to identify the strongest and weakest parts of her performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s more than one way to get the job done, so you\u2019re really targeting people\u2019s individual strengths and maximizing them. And if you can identify limitations, then you can work with the coaches, physical therapists, physiologists and others to improve through targeted training,\u201d says McNitt-Gray, who holds a joint appointment at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bme.usc.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Viterbi School of Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Through detailed, individualized data, coaches and researchers can see whether an athlete is having trouble controlling speed in the leadup run, controlling the leg on the takeoff board or consistently accelerating the body at the beginning of the jump. They can also troubleshoot motions that might place the athlete at risk for injury, such as placing too much weight on one leg or ankle during the landing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere may be areas for improvement that are very different from one athlete to another, so it\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all scenario. More than one solution will get you there, and that\u2019s why a lot of the research that we do is related to how an individual improves their performance,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8y3tjMrDMDA\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Three decades of Olympic efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The jump was one of many performed during the recent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USA Track &amp; Field<\/a>\u00a0(USATF) team trials for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. For the past three quadrennials \u2014 since before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London \u2014 McNitt-Gray has been working with USATF athletes in the \u201chorizontal jumps\u201d: the long jump and the triple jump. The latter is an event similar to the long jump in which a person must complete three jumps, starting by running off one foot (hop), switching to the opposite one (step), and then taking off of the same foot that was used for hop (jump).<\/p>\n<p>McNitt-Gray has worked with Olympians and Paralympians in various events, including diving, volleyball, basketball and different Paralympic sports, for 35 years. Her interest in athletics and movement stretches back to her college days when she was a competitive gymnast and field hockey player.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think as a gymnast you end up being like a practicing physicist in order to figure out how you fly through the air and land without getting hurt,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>After college, McNitt-Gray used\u00a0her degrees in math and statistics to continue studying mechanics, getting a job at an electrical utility company where she looked at load distribution.\u00a0Her first project of her doctoral program was to analyze high-speed film taken during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.\u00a0After earning her Ph.D. in biomechanics, she came to USC Dornsife to pursue her research and continue her work with athletes training for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n<p>Much has changed since McNitt-Gray began her career. Initially, scientists and trainers used film cameras to capture movement, but it took several days to develop the film and give feedback. Stopwatches measured time, though not quite to the degree today\u2019s instruments can. Researchers also made their own equipment for electromyography to monitor muscle recruitment and activation.<\/p>\n<p>Today, however, athletes have smart watches and other wearable monitoring devices to record some of their biometrics. And high-speed video cameras give a greater opportunity to catch detailed movements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think now with more portable technology, better data management skills, more algorithmic developments, we\u2019re able to get a much clearer picture of patterns that may be evolving. And especially those that are linked to putting an athlete at risk, or those that help them control their body in ways that improve performance,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An athlete weighs in<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Madisen Richards, a long jumper who graduated from USC Dornsife in 2018 with a degree in human biology, was on the USC Track &amp; Field team during her time as a student. She says she learned much from McNitt-Gray both as a teacher and as an athlete.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing data from force plates that were then analyzed by the USC biomechanics team allowed me to discover just how much further I could jump by either improving my horizontal or vertical velocity at takeoff,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned that it\u2019s more beneficial for me to have more horizontal velocity at takeoff, so this season I worked on speed development a lot in order to help improve that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richards, who was part of the USC team that won the NCAA Division 1 Championship in 2018 and who was also USC\u2019s first women\u2019s outdoor long jump All-American since 1999, participated in her first U.S. Olympic track and field trials this summer.<\/p>\n<p>McNitt-Gray says that her research is not solely aimed at athletes. Body movement and force are also important for astronauts, who need to control their bodies in space, and people with disabilities. Prosthetic use, for example, can vary greatly depending on whether it is fitted above the knee or below it, so understanding those forces can help people prevent injury.<\/p>\n<p>For the next few weeks, however, McNitt-Gray will watch to see how her track and field athletes \u2014 and Team USA as a whole \u2014 do in the Games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor us researchers, the best part is really watching the athletes take the science, use it and have it be part of what they\u2019re doing in competition. I hope everyone can go and do their best.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>July 31, 2024: This story, originally published ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has been updated to remove dated references.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By using tools such as force plates and high-speed video to map out athletes\u2019 body movements, Jill McNitt-Gray is helping competitors in the horizontal jumps reach peak performance \u2014 and avoid injury \u2014 in Tokyo. <strong>[5 min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,24],"tags":[117,407,330],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-social-impact","tag-biology","tag-jill-mcnitt-gray","tag-olympics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>USC Dornsife researcher puts Olympians on track to win at the Games<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/biomechanics-olympians-to-medal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USC Dornsife researcher puts Olympians on track to win at the Games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By using tools such as force plates and high-speed video to map out athletes\u2019 body movements, Jill McNitt-Gray is helping competitors in the horizontal jumps reach peak performance \u2014 and avoid injury \u2014 in Tokyo. 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