Training of Falling Techniques on Landing Mechanics

For the falling training, participants will be instructed to initially land softly with increased knee and hip flexion and then smoothly fall to the direction of the movement while transferring the weight from the feet to the hands and subsequently to the lateral trunk and hip. The training program includes three one-hour training sessions over a week with one or two days between two sessions. Each training session will begin with a warm-up protocol. Participants will progressively increase the task difficulty and decrease the thickness of the mat. For each training session, participants will perform a minimum of one successful practice trial for each task difficulty and each landing direction on the thicker mat and then complete a minimum of three successful practice trials for each task difficulty and landing direction on the thinner mat. The last training session involves falling on a 0.5-inch mat, which is the same as the surface for the post-training and retention assessments.