Track 6. Sport Biomechanics - Joint ISB Track
Performance Pattern Variability $189
phase of turning. Loading rate of ground reaction force has been found
to discriminate between surfaces of different cushioning ability, particularly
during movements with a high acceleration component. Movement and in-
shoe pressure data have been found to vary across surface conditions, for
example with differences in initial foot angle and contact area. These findings
highlight possible influences that surface manipulation can have on participant
performance, providing data to inform selection of surfaces for different sports
applications.
6622 Th, 17:15-17:30 (P45)
Energy return and puck speed of hockey sticks
D.J. Stefanyshyn, J.T. Worobets. Human Performance Laboratory, University
of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Anecdotally, new one-piece composite hockey sticks have been suggested to
allow hockey players to shoot pucks at higher speeds than was previously pos-
sible using conventional wooden sticks. Since puck speed can be influenced
by the energy stored and returned from a hockey stick, it is important to know
how the new stick designs and materials influence energy return in comparison
to wooden constructions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify
the puck speed and energy return of current hockey stick models.
Mechanical energy return was quantified for forty-three sticks (30 one-piece
composite, 13 wood) using a mechanical test with a constant input force. A
subset of 11 sticks (8 composite, 3 wood) were selected for biomechanical
testing. During the biomechanical testing, five members of the University of
Calgary mens hockey team performed wrist and slap shots with each stick.
Puck speed and stick deformation were recorded using a high-speed video
system. Mechanical energy return was then quantified a second time on the
subset of 11 sticks. The same mechanical test was used, however, the inputs
were now changed to match the inputs determined from the biomechanical
tests.
Based on the purely mechanical tests where a constant force is applied to
the sticks, the composite sticks return significantly more energy (10%) than
the wood sticks. Thus it would be expected that the composite sticks should
generate higher puck speeds. However, shooting in hockey is not purely
mechanical but depends on how an athlete transfers the energy from the
stick to the puck. The average puck speeds generated by the hockey players
were not significantly different between the wood and composite sticks, this
was true for both the wrist and slap shots. Therefore, the claims of newer
composite sticks providing performance advantages over wooden models were
not supported.
6.6. Performance Pattern Variability
7859 Fr, 08:15-08:45 (P49)
Performance pattern formation variability in biological movement
systems: implications for biomechanists
K. Davids. School of Human Movement Studies, Queensland University of
Technology, Australia
Research in movement science and biomechanics is revealing how move-
ment variability, traditionally viewed in a negative light, can play a functional,
adaptive role in pattern formation as biological movement systems coordinate
actions with dynamic environments. Such novel insights into the functional
role of movement variability are emerging due novel theoretical developments
which raise questions over the traditional focus on common optimal pattern
formation in movement systems. This presentation examines the relationship
between representative task design and indeterminacy of brain and behaviour
within a functionalist theoretical perspective enriched by ideas from Ecological
Psychology and Nonlinear Dynamics. Due to the indeterminacy of behaviour
and the plasticity and degeneracy of the brain, it is proposed that traditional
reductionist experimental paradigms fail to capture the richness and emergent
characteristic of decision making and action in such dynamic environments.
Multi-articular actions, prevalent in sports and physical activities, provide rel-
evant movement models for investigating the re-organisation of motor system
degrees of freedom during adaptive pattern formation during task performance.
Data are presented from studies using a range of exemplar movement models
in many different sports to support the idea that performance pattern variability
is harnessed by movement systems during adaptive behaviour. Biomechanists
need to be aware how the degeneracy and indeterminacy of brain and
behaviour can underpin the functional nature of performance pattern variability
in human movement systems as they successfully adapt to everchanging task
and environmental constraints.
6.6.
7088 Fr, 08:45-09:00 (P49)
Spectral analysis of rhythmic movement on improvisation in dancers
~H. Hung 1, C.~ Chen 1, WE. Kuo2. 1Graduate School of Physical Education,
National Taiwan College of Physical Education, Taichung, Taiwan, 2Graduate
Institute of Applied Sport Science, National Changhua University of Education,
Changhua, Taiwan
It is necessary for a dancer to perform the sequence movements concurrent
with music. This study was intended as an investigation of the spectral
characteristics for one dimensional rhythmic movement following the music
slowly or quickly in the concept of improvisation for dancers. Thirteen elite
dancers who majored in DanceSport, ballet, modern dance, or Chinese folk
dance (age: 19-35 years old, years of training: 4-25 years) and fifteen physical
education students (age: 18-23 years old) were recruited as the participants
for this study. Participants were asked to draw the rod in steady beats or at
will on a linear displacement meter (Gefran Model PK-M-0600-L) to perform
the rhythm motion concurrent with music that they were listening to. This study
selected the slow Waltz (3 beats per bar and 28 bars per minute) and the
Viennese Waltz (3 beats per bar and 59 bars per minute). Participants had
never been exposed to the chosen music. They were then asked to draw
the rod in a flow of movement to the beat of the music. The Biopac MP-100
system (1000 Hz) was used to record and analyse the characteristics for the
dynamical change of linear motion. The power density spectrum from position-
time curve that was modified through digital filter by setting a cutoff frequency
of 10 Hz showed the elite dancers articulately embodied the fundamental, the
first, and the second harmonics to express every beat of tempo in the condition
of steady beat or improvisation. The signal of frequency domain revealed there
were differences and uniqueness among dancers because of their divergent
technical experience. Chinese folk dancers could express the motion in one-
second and one-fourth of fundamental harmonics strongly and smoothly, but
also emerged higher in the third and fourth harmonics than in the condition of
steady beat. The frequency domain indicated it contained many frequencies
among harmonics with little or no change in the structure of three harmonics
in the condition of improvisation for dancers.
4501 Fr, 09:00-09:15 (P49)
The characteristics of postural tremors for the elite shooting players
under different standing postures
W.-T. Tang 1, C. Wen-Ru 1, H. In-shou2. 1Institute of Coaching Science,
NCPES, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan, 2 The Department of Physical Therapy, Nation
Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
Tremors are not only micro-vibration but are also characteristically affected by
intra-limb coordination between the joints. The importance of tremors comes
up when doing finer or trimming movements. The fact also clearly indicated
that tremor characteristics varied with tasks, and intra-limb coordination was
task dependent for healthy young adults (Morrison, 1999; Wu, 2004).
The competitive shooting, from the standing posture, holding guns, lifting
guns, aiming to firing, the entire movement required each limb segment to be
highly coordinated so that it can ensure firing with high stability and accuracy.
Nevertheless, Unconscious and continuous vibrations affect the performance
of each shooting movement. It has a greater influence on the shooting scores
of the competitors from keeping an accurate aiming and stability of the
gun. Therefore, the tremor characteristics for elite shooting players and the
differences in postural tremors between shooting players and control group
of untrained people will be investigated in this study. The study recruit two
groups, which are respectively the members of the shooting team (air pistol A
level) and students (without any shooting training) in Central Police University.
Two different postures were performed and analyze through attached eight
three-axis accelerometers (at 400 Hz) on gun-holding arm and leg at the same
side. The tremor signal was processed through Butterworth band-pass filter
between 2 Hz and 50 Hz and derived the RMS as the tremor amplitude and
to investigate the tremor pattern in upper and lower limbs during their two
different postures. From this result, it reveals the different pattern in tremors
between elite shooters and control group of untrained people with normal
physical activities and provide coaches information for the training guideline
and talent identification.
References
Morrison S., Newell K.M. (2000). Motor Control. 4(3): 293-315.
Pei-Shan Wu. (2004). thesis, Nation Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
7854 Fr, 09:15-09:30 (P49)
Variability in accuracy: movement degeneracy in basketball clean shot
~-T. Liu 1, H.~ Chiang 1, G. Mayer-Kress2. 1Department of Physical
Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2Department
of Kinesiology, the Penn State University, PA, USA
Basketball shooting involves a multi-segment coordination. How to organize
the multi-joint movement in order to have an accurate and stable shooting