Research article - (2011)10, 112 - 118
The Relationship between Performance and Trunk Movement During Change of Direction
Shogo Sasaki1,2,, Yasuharu Nagano3, Satoshi Kaneko3, Takakuni Sakurai2, Toru Fukubayashi3
1Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan
2Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
3Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan

Shogo Sasaki
✉ Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1192 Japan
Email: sasaki@tau.ac.jp
Received: 30-09-2010 -- Accepted: 17-11-2010
Published (online): 01-03-2011

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to obtain the trunk kinematics data during a change-of-direction task and to determine the relationship between trunk kinematics and the change-of-direction performance. The design of this investigation was a descriptive laboratory study. Twelve healthy male collegiate soccer players (age: 21.3 ± 1.0 yrs, body mass: 67. 7 ± 6.7 kg, and height: 1.75 ± 0.05 m) participated in this study. Participants performed a shuttle run cutting task with a 180 degree pivot as quickly as possible. The shuttle run cutting time, ground contact time during a change-of-direction, and trunk inclination angle were measured. The shuttle run cutting time tends to correlate positively with ground contact time. During the change- of-direction task, the trunk forward inclination angle gradually increased during the first 50% of the stance phase and decreased subsequently whereas the trunk flexed, maintaining a left inclination during the first 40% of the stance phase and changing exponentially in the opposite direction. Forward angular displacement of the trunk between foot-contact and maximum trunk inclination correlated positively with the shuttle run cutting time (r = 0.61, p < 0.05) and ground contact time (r = 0.65, p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the change-of-direction performance could be related to the small angular displacement of the trunk during a change of direction. Moreover, it was considered that there might be optimal inclination angles related to change-of-direction performance. Therefore, coaches in field sports should check body posture and trunk movements during changes of direction.

Key words: Kinematics, angular displacement, posture, stability, field sports

Key Points
  • Small forward angular displacement of the trunk during a direction change is related to the change-of-direction performance.
  • Trunk stability during a change of direction is an important factor in the change-of-direction performance.
  • There might be a range of optimal angles of trunk inclination during a change of direction.
  • Coaches in field sports should check the body posture and trunk movement of players when they require a change of direction or when they participate in sport-specific change-of-direction training.








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