2013, Volume 9, Issue 2
Ankle and knee joint coordination in sagittal plane during kendo strike-thrust motion in healthy kendo athletes
Sentaro Koshida1, Tadamitsu Matsuda2
1Department of Judotherapy and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ryotokuji University, Urayasu Chiba, Japan
2Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Uekusa Gakuen University, Chiba, Japan
Author for correspondence: Sentaro Koshida; Department of Judotherapy and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ryotokuji University, Urayasu Chiba, Japan; email: koshida[at]ryotokuji-u.ac.jp
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Abstract
Background and Study Aim: Joint coordination patterns during sports movements are believed to be related to sports performance and injury risk. The aim of our study was to quantify the joint coordination of the knee and ankle during the kendo strike-thrust motion and identify patterns among uninjured, experienced kendo athletes.
Material and Methods: Fifteen experienced collegiate kendo athletes (age 20.4 ± 1.2 years; height 171.5 ± 4.0 cm; weight 73.9 ± 9.1 kg; kendo experience 11.1 ± 3.1 years) volunteered to participate in the study. Three-dimensional kinematic data was collected while participants were performing three sets of kendo motions at distances of 2.0 m from the target. We averaged the joint angle data and then used modified vector coding analysis to identify inter-segment co-ordination patterns during the single support phase of the kendo strike-thrust motion.
Results: We observed an ‘N-shaped’ co-ordination pattern in seven participants, whereas we observed a ‘topped-hat’ co-ordination pattern in seven other participants during the transition phase in the kendo strike-thrust motion. One participant presented a unique co-ordination pattern which could not be defined. In addition, the ratio of each joint co-ordination pattern varied among the kendo athletes.
Conclusions: We identified two distinct joint co-ordination patterns of the left knee and ankle joints during the single support phase of the kendo strike-thrust motion.
Key words: achilles tendon prevention, kinematics, lower extremity, martial arts