Biomechanical Analysis

The first 200 words of this essay...

Biomechanical analysis of factors influencing agility performance

Introduction

Many sports require participants to change direction quickly and suddenly, in an efficient and accurate manner. This has been previously defined as 'agility' Johnson and Nelson (1969), Barrow and Mcgee (1971), cited in Sheppard and Young (2006). Currently there is no definitive agreed term for agility defined within the literature; the definition "a rapid whole-body movement with a change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus" as proposed by Sheppard and Young (2006) encompasses all aspects of agility. In this assignment the decision making component in reaction to a stimulus will not be examined.

Successful performance of a task requiring 'agility' requires the execution of multiple technical skills combined with physical attributes which can be applied to biomechanical principles.

In team sports such as football, players are required to make multiple twists, turns, and cutting manoeuvres during a game. Withers et al. (1982) found that footballers perform an average of 49.9 turns per game each. Hawkins et al. (2001) found that 58% of all lower limb injuries sustained over two seasons were in non-contact situations, and twisting/ turning injuries accounted for a significant proportion of all injuries