Reactive Strength Index (RSI)

Reactive strength index (RSI) measures reactive jump capacity by reflecting a person's ability to turn deceleration into acceleration in a short period of time. This is often referred to as the stretch-shortening cycle. Reactive strength is an important physical competency measure for acceleration, agility, and change of direction speed. A drop in RSI is a good indicator of fatigue, and an increase in RSI is a good indicator of performance readiness.

For consecutive countermovement jumps, RSI is reflective of the stretch-shortening cycle of the quad and hip complexes.

RSI is calculated as the ratio of flight time to ground contact time, so a higher RSI means either a shorter ground contact time or a longer flight time (higher jump), or a combination of the two.

Table 21: RSI values for young men and women from NCAA Div I basketball teams and the community

Louder, Talin, "Establishing a Kinetic Assessment of Reactive Strength" (2017). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 6004

Applications

• Use Case: ACL Rehabilitation
• Use Case: Sports Performance
• Case Study: Lower Body Orthopaedic Injury
• Case Study: Muscle Complex Deficiencies