The continuous measurement of the springboard reaction force in gymnastic vaulting.

A new method was established for the continuous measurement of force applied from a springboard to a gymnast in vaulting (board reaction force). Male gymnasts performed a handspring vault using a springboard mounted on force platforms. A high-speed video camera sampled the springboard motion at 500 Hz. The springboard was initially partitioned into 29 segments. The force due to the accelerative motion of the springboard was determined by summing the forces of the individual segments. The board reaction force acting on the gymnast was calculated by subtracting the force due to the accelerative motion of the springboard and weight from the force recorded by the force platform. The new method succeeded in illustrating transient changes of the board reaction force. The horizontal and vertical components of the peak values of the board reaction force were three and two times greater respectively than the average values. A series of tests was conducted to determine whether the number of segments of the springboard model could be reduced without affecting accuracy. A model consisting of only four segments produced almost the same accuracy as the 29-segment model. The simplified model is recommended as a more efficient method to measure board reaction force.

The effect of muscle fatigue on instep kicking kinetics and kinematics in association football.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of leg muscle fatigue on the kinetics and kinematics of the instep football kick. Fatigue was induced by repeated, loaded knee extension (40% body weight) and flexion (50% body weight) motions on a weight-training machine until exhaustion. The kicking motions of seven male players were captured three-dimensionally at 500 Hz before and immediately after the fatigue protocol. The significantly slower ball velocity observed in the fatigue condition was due to both reduced lower leg swing speed and poorer ball contact. The reduced leg swing speed, represented by a slower toe linear velocity immediately before ball impact and slower peak lower leg angular velocity, was most likely due to a significantly reduced resultant joint moment and motion-dependent interactive moment during kicking. These results suggest that the specific muscle fatigue induced in the present study not only diminished the ability to generate force, but also disturbed the effective action of the interactive moment leading to poorer inter-segmental coordination during kicking. Moreover, fatigue obscured the eccentric action of the knee flexors immediately before ball impact. This might increase the susceptibility to injury.

Segmental dynamics of soccer instep kicking with the preferred and non-preferred leg.

Detailed time-series of the resultant joint moments and segmental interactions during soccer instep kicking were compared between the preferred and non-preferred kicking leg. The kicking motions of both legs were captured for five highly skilled players using a three-dimensional cinematographic technique at 200 Hz. The resultant joint moment (muscle moment) and moment due to segmental interactions (interaction moment) were computed using a two-link kinetic chain model composed of the thigh and lower leg (including shank and foot). The mechanical functioning of the muscle and interaction moments during kicking were clearly illustrated. Significantly greater ball velocity (32.1 vs. 27.1 m . s(-1)), shank angular velocity (39.4 vs. 31.8 rad . s(-1)) and final foot velocity (22.7 vs. 19.6 m . s(-1)) were observed for the preferred leg. The preferred leg showed a significantly greater knee muscle moment (129.9 N . m) than the non-preferred leg (93.5 N . m), while no substantial differences were found for the interaction moment between the two legs (79.3 vs. 55.7 N . m). These results indicate that the highly skilled soccer players achieved a well-coordinated inter-segmental motion for both the preferred and non-preferred leg. The faster leg swing observed for the preferred leg was most likely the result of the larger muscle moment.