How Strength & Conditioning Coaches Can Use 3-Axis Force Plates
If you are a strength and conditioning coach or athletic trainer interested in investing in digital biofeedback devices and equipment you may feel overwhelmed by the number of options on the market. A wide range of digital tools that measure physiological activities – including various dynamometers, goniometers, and portable electromyography sensors – are available to augment analog training and testing practices. These sophisticated tools capture quantitative data about an athlete’s physicality that can be leveraged to refine training plans, guard against injury, make better-informed return-to-sport decisions, and optimize athletic performance.
But, while the “right” tools will vary depending on your clientele and their needs, one piece of equipment is globally popular among coaches and trainers: force plates. These versatile tools generate precise data about power, peak force, balance, strength, fatigue, jump height, limb symmetry, and more.
The vast majority of force plates available on the commercial market are single-axis, portable force plates. These force plates measure force along the z-axis (vertical) and do an excellent job of measuring upward and downward movement (like jumping).
Until recently, force plates that measured along more than one axis were confined to labs and clinical work. Thanks to recent innovations, force plates that measure multidirectional movement are now available for commercial use. These revolutionary, 3-axis force plates (also referred to as 3D or triaxial force plates) measure movement along three axes – and can be used to supercharge athletic training.
What Are 3-Axis Force Plates?
3-axis force plates use load cells to capture ground reaction forces (GRFs) along the z-axis (vertical), y-axis (anterior-posterior), and x-axis (medial-lateral). So, in addition to measuring upward and downward movement, they can also capture data about forward and backward and side-to-side movements. They can be used to measure:
- Force
- Asymmetry
- Power
- Speed
- Center of pressure (CoP)
- Explosiveness
- Joint kinematics
Because 3-axis force plates capture such a breadth of granular data, they are popular among trainers and coaches who work with elite athletes, especially those who play on professional, semi-pro and college sports teams. Data gives practitioners insight into an athlete’s abilities and deficiencies – and can be used to build a comprehensive profile of a client’s athleticism.
How 3-Axis Force Plates Can Be Used to Train Athletes
Here’s a brief overview of how coaches can use 3-axis force plates to train and rehabilitate athletes who play basketball, football, soccer and golf.
Basketball
Basketball players spend up to a third of every game performing lateral movements like cutting, shuffling, and driving the ball to the basket. Athletes can perform lateral jump (also known as skater jump) and lateral countermovement jump (LCMJ) tests on the plates. The results from those tests can give coaches insight into an athlete’s lateral force (including acceleration and deceleration) and can, in turn, be used to hone training plans to improve agility and efficiency.
Football
Football players must be dynamically balanced and capable of moving with explosive power. Players can perform bilateral forward jump tests on the plates, which allows coaches to evaluate horizontal lower-limb power, stability, symmetry, and neuromuscular coordination and control. From these measurements, coaches can monitor for deficiencies and adjust training plans as necessary.
Soccer
In soccer, agility is key – players must be able to able to change velocity and direction quickly. The plates can be used to perform change of direction (COD) testing and generate detailed data about an athlete’s contact times, angular velocities, GRFs and joint angles. That data can be used to fine-tune performance training and rehabilitation plans.
Golf
3-axis force plates can be used to measure the pressure transition between a golfer’s feet, their center of pressure, and stance width while they swing. The precise data the plates generate about golfers’ backward, forward and lateral shifts and weight transfer can help coaches analyze and enhance performance.