The Validity of the Push Band 2.0 on the Reactive Strength Index Assessment in Drop Jump

This study aims to verify the validity of the Push Band 2.0 (PB(2.0)) device on the reactive strength index (RSI) measurement, using a force plate (FP) and an optical sensor device, OptoJump (OPT), as a reference. Twenty trained athletes performed 60 drop jump trials with a height box of 30 cm. A randomized repeated measures study was conducted during a single session using the PB(2.0), the OPT, and the plate force manually synchronized to obtain RSI data for each jump. Validity was analyzed by contrasting three measures: the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), the Bland–Altman test, and R2 coefficient of determination. Bland–Altman analysis showed that RSI and FP for PB2.0 (media = −0.047; IC 93.34%) of all data were within the confidence interval, indicating a statistically reliable result. The RSI measured by the OPT and PB2.0 also provided similar values (media = −0.047). These data are identical to other validity measures (ICC and linear correlation) but differ in the R2 values. The explained variation of PB2.0 measures attained only 29.3% of the FP (R2 = 0.293) and 29.5% (R2 = 0.295) of the OPT assessment, showing a very low determination coefficient. The results of this study point to caution in the use of PB2.0 when measuring RSI in scientific research.