Influence of Visual Impairment Level on the Regulatory Mechanism Used during the Approach Phase of a Long Jump

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the occurrence of stride regulation at the approach phase of the long jump in athletes with normal vision and visually deprived Class F12 and F13 athletes. All the athletes exhibited the presence of a regulatory mechanism. In the normal vision group this occurred on the fifth-to-last stride. In Class F12 athletes regulation commenced on the fourth-to-last stride for males and third-to-last stride for females. Class F13 males commenced regulation, like the control group, on the fifth-to-last stride; but females commenced on the fourth-to-last stride. The study demonstrated that reduced vision does not prevent Class F12 and F13 athletes from applying a regulatory mechanism similar to that observed in sighted athletes. However, the control mechanism of regulation emerged earlier in non-visually deprived long jumpers and the least visually impaired Class F13 athletes, signifying the importance of visual function in the regulatory stimuli.