David Performs a Grab at Capital Bocking USA

Jumping stilts, bounce stilts or spring stilts are special

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

that allow the user to run, jump and perform various acrobatics. Spring stilts using fiberglass leaf springs were patented in the United States in 2004 under the trademark "PowerSkip", marketed for recreational and extreme sports use. Spring stilts are often mostly made of

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

. Using these stilts is also called "bocking" or "powerbocking", derived from ''Alexander Böck'', the stilts' inventor.

Powerbocking

The act of "bocking" or "powerbocking" includes jumping, running, and performing acrobatics with elastic-like spring-loaded

. They can be used to jump great distances and allow the user to bounce over people and cars and to perform backflips. For some, it is an

extreme sport Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are physical activity, activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk of injury or death. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly speci ...

; for others, it is a form of exercise, artistic expression and a form of entertainment. The stilts are often referred to generically as bocks or powerbocks; as power stilts, jumping stilts, bounce stilts or spring stilts; or by their brand name.

Description

Each boot consists of a foot-plate with

snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...

type locking straps, rubber foot pad which is also commonly called a hoof, and a

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring (device), spring commonly used for suspension (vehicle), suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, e ...

. Using only their weight, and few movements, the user is generally able to

jump JuMP is an algebraic modeling language and a collection of supporting packages for mathematical optimization embedded in the Julia programming language. JuMP is used by companies, government agencies, academic institutions, software projects ...

3–5 ft (1–1.5 metres) off the ground and

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

up to 20 mph (32 km/h). They also give the ability to take up to 9-foot (2.7 metres) strides. Jumping stilts were used in the closing ceremony of the 2008

Olympic games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Brands

They were originally patented by Alexander Böck, from Germany (European Patent EP 1 196 220 B1 on 2 July 2003, US Patent No. 6,719,671 B1 on 13 April 2004, both with a priority date of 20 July 1999), as "Powerskip". Many people also use common brand names to refer to them generically. Common brand names are 7 League Boots, Air-Trekkers, Powerizers, Pro-Jump, and Powerskips.

Risks

On 4 December 2010 Samuel Koch was heavily injured during the show '' Wetten, dass..?'' during a stunt where he attempted to jump over multiple moving cars in succession. He failed to clear one of the moving vehicles and was left

tetraplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

after suffering severe injuries to his neck and spine.

Competition

Two competitions exist in France: the Nancy Power Days (since 2009) in Nancy and the Riser Winter Cup (since 2015) in Lille.

Similar devices

Though similar in appearance, jumping stilts are not to be confused with the use of prosthetic devices such as those used by paralympic runners

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius ( , ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius r ...

Jonnie Peacock Jonathan Peacock (born 28 May 1993) is an English sprint runner... An amputee, Peacock won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics, representing Great Britain in the T44 men's 100 metres event. He won a bronze medal ...

. Moon shoes and PyonPyon jumpers are earlier attempts at jumping shoes using a different technique. Some are still popular today. There is a Swiss product "Kangoo Jumps", with cantilever springs under the shoes, which is promoted more for fitness than large leaps. Rocket boots were designed in the 1970s for the Russian Army, and use combustion pistons rather than springs for a similar effect. Similar devices appear in the

Portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

video game series, allowing the protagonist, Chell, to survive falls from great height unharmed. Though, they do not affect her ability to walk or jump. An English folklore figure

spring-heeled Jack Spring-heeled Jack was an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban Lond ...

has been conjectured by some investigators to have been a prankster using spring-loaded leaping aids as early as 1837. Spring stilts using steel coil springs, an antecedent of the

pogo stick A pogo stick is a vehicle for jumping off the ground in a standing position—through the aid of a spring, or new high performance technologies—often used as a toy, exercise equipment or extreme sports instrument. It led to an extreme sport n ...

, were attempted in the 19th century.Nicholas Yagn (21 October 1890) "Apparatus for facilitating walking".

References

External links

Description of the PowerBockingdeviceDoesWhat Powerizers Pro Jump video

Google Patent for the original PowerSkip, by Alexander BoeckImage of man powerbocking
on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

w3BBO Bockipedia - The Bocking EncyclopediaWelsh Bockers - jumping stilts club based in Cardiff, UK
{{Extreme sports Human-powered vehicles Sports footwear