Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 17 (2014) 345
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsams
Editorial
The use of biomechanics across sports science and sports medicine
The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport is a multidisciplinary journal that publishes research findings across a broad range of sports science and sports medicine disciplines. Whilst this can pose challenges at times in relation to the many disciplines we need to consider in achieving a balance of content that sits well together and provides the breadth of knowledge that our readers request, it allows us to interact with a wide variety of researchers and practitioners and select strong and interesting papers to publish. A specific challenge with any multidisciplinary journal is ensuring that important disciplines, and their contributions to the sports science and sports medicine areas, are not hidden, but rather highlighted. One example of a discipline in which we publish is biomechanics and its contributions to skill development and performance, and it links to injury in sport. Whilst biomechanics can be seen as a defined sub-discipline of sport and exercise science, it is an area that has resonance and utility across many areas of sport. Although typically many people will associate biomechanics with the analysis of sporting activities and their performance in an attempt to identify better techniques in learning and executing skills, in the broader sports medicine area, biomechanics also has applications in terms of identifying risk factors for injury. In this issue of the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport we include a range of papers that focus on biomechanics. For example, we include a paper by West and colleagues from the United Kingdom who examined the effects of abdominal binding in Paralympic wheelchair rugby players on a range of performance parameters including wheelchair propulsion. Brown and colleagues from the United States investigated the association between lower limb muscle activation strategies and knee joint biomechanics during single-leg landings. Di Michele and Merni report on a study from Italy which looked at how groundcontact time and strike pattern influences running economy in competitive runners. Finally, Koblbauer and colleagues from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands examined the kinematic changes experienced during running-induced fatigue, and in turn, the relationship between kinematic changes and core endurance in runners. I also take this opportunity to highlight some of the other recent papers that we have published that incorporate interesting uses of biomechanics in the sports science and sports medicine fields. Zanca et al.1 in their paper on shoulder rotation in overhead athletes with and without impingement symptoms found that higher torque fluctuation of shoulder internal rotation in
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2014.05.010 1440-2440/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia.
asymptomatic athletes may point to neuromuscular adaptations related to throwing training. Bredeweg et al.2 prospectively examined kinematic variables between injured and noninjured novice runners and showed that male injured runners had higher loading rates and shorter contact times than their noninjured counterparts, yet this relationship did not hold for females. Green et al.3 focused on identifying the factors associated with shoulder injuries in elite junior cricket players and concluded that a consistently downwardly rotated scapula may predispose these athletes to ongoing injury through impingement and increased load on the rotator cuff muscles acting at the glenohumeral joint during throwing. Corte et al.4 evaluated the effects that two landing techniques had on lower extremity biomechanics while performing side-step cutting and pivot tasks. They concluded that forefoot landing increased knee adduction moment loading, which can potentially place a higher strain on the anterior cruciate ligament. The final paper I will highlight is one that will no doubt appeal to the golfers among our readership madly trying to reduce their handicap. Fedorcik et al.5 investigated the differences in three-dimensional wrist kinematics and the angle of golf club descent between low and high handicap golfers. They found that golfers with a high handicap had increased radial deviation during the golf swing and at the point of ball contact. I hope you enjoy the wide range of biomechanics papers that we publish in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and the wide variety of other papers that you will read in this issue.
References 1. Zanca GG, Saccol MF, Oliveira AB et al. Shoulder internal and external rotations torque steadiness in overhead athletes with and without impingement symptoms. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:433–437. 2. Bredeweg SW, Kliuitenberg B, Bessem B et al. Differences in kinetic variables between injured and noninjured novice runners: a prospective cohort study. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:205–210. 3. Green RA, Taylor NF, Watson L et al. Altered scapula position in elite young cricket players with shoulder problems. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:22–27. 4. Cortes N, Morrison S, Van Lunen BK et al. Landing techniques affects knee loading and position during athletic tasks. J Sci Med Sport 2012; 15:175–181. 5. Fedorcik GG, Queen RM, Abbey AN et al. Differences in wrist mechanics during the golf swing based on golf handicap. J Sci Med Sport 2012; 15:250–254.
Gregory S. Kolt, PhD Editor-in-Chief
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsams
Editorial
The use of biomechanics across sports science and sports medicine
The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport is a multidisciplinary journal that publishes research findings across a broad range of sports science and sports medicine disciplines. Whilst this can pose challenges at times in relation to the many disciplines we need to consider in achieving a balance of content that sits well together and provides the breadth of knowledge that our readers request, it allows us to interact with a wide variety of researchers and practitioners and select strong and interesting papers to publish. A specific challenge with any multidisciplinary journal is ensuring that important disciplines, and their contributions to the sports science and sports medicine areas, are not hidden, but rather highlighted. One example of a discipline in which we publish is biomechanics and its contributions to skill development and performance, and it links to injury in sport. Whilst biomechanics can be seen as a defined sub-discipline of sport and exercise science, it is an area that has resonance and utility across many areas of sport. Although typically many people will associate biomechanics with the analysis of sporting activities and their performance in an attempt to identify better techniques in learning and executing skills, in the broader sports medicine area, biomechanics also has applications in terms of identifying risk factors for injury. In this issue of the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport we include a range of papers that focus on biomechanics. For example, we include a paper by West and colleagues from the United Kingdom who examined the effects of abdominal binding in Paralympic wheelchair rugby players on a range of performance parameters including wheelchair propulsion. Brown and colleagues from the United States investigated the association between lower limb muscle activation strategies and knee joint biomechanics during single-leg landings. Di Michele and Merni report on a study from Italy which looked at how groundcontact time and strike pattern influences running economy in competitive runners. Finally, Koblbauer and colleagues from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands examined the kinematic changes experienced during running-induced fatigue, and in turn, the relationship between kinematic changes and core endurance in runners. I also take this opportunity to highlight some of the other recent papers that we have published that incorporate interesting uses of biomechanics in the sports science and sports medicine fields. Zanca et al.1 in their paper on shoulder rotation in overhead athletes with and without impingement symptoms found that higher torque fluctuation of shoulder internal rotation in
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2014.05.010 1440-2440/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia.
asymptomatic athletes may point to neuromuscular adaptations related to throwing training. Bredeweg et al.2 prospectively examined kinematic variables between injured and noninjured novice runners and showed that male injured runners had higher loading rates and shorter contact times than their noninjured counterparts, yet this relationship did not hold for females. Green et al.3 focused on identifying the factors associated with shoulder injuries in elite junior cricket players and concluded that a consistently downwardly rotated scapula may predispose these athletes to ongoing injury through impingement and increased load on the rotator cuff muscles acting at the glenohumeral joint during throwing. Corte et al.4 evaluated the effects that two landing techniques had on lower extremity biomechanics while performing side-step cutting and pivot tasks. They concluded that forefoot landing increased knee adduction moment loading, which can potentially place a higher strain on the anterior cruciate ligament. The final paper I will highlight is one that will no doubt appeal to the golfers among our readership madly trying to reduce their handicap. Fedorcik et al.5 investigated the differences in three-dimensional wrist kinematics and the angle of golf club descent between low and high handicap golfers. They found that golfers with a high handicap had increased radial deviation during the golf swing and at the point of ball contact. I hope you enjoy the wide range of biomechanics papers that we publish in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and the wide variety of other papers that you will read in this issue.
References 1. Zanca GG, Saccol MF, Oliveira AB et al. Shoulder internal and external rotations torque steadiness in overhead athletes with and without impingement symptoms. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:433–437. 2. Bredeweg SW, Kliuitenberg B, Bessem B et al. Differences in kinetic variables between injured and noninjured novice runners: a prospective cohort study. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:205–210. 3. Green RA, Taylor NF, Watson L et al. Altered scapula position in elite young cricket players with shoulder problems. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:22–27. 4. Cortes N, Morrison S, Van Lunen BK et al. Landing techniques affects knee loading and position during athletic tasks. J Sci Med Sport 2012; 15:175–181. 5. Fedorcik GG, Queen RM, Abbey AN et al. Differences in wrist mechanics during the golf swing based on golf handicap. J Sci Med Sport 2012; 15:250–254.
Gregory S. Kolt, PhD Editor-in-Chief
