THE EFFECT OF GENDER ON MOVEMENT PATTERNS IN TENNIS IN RELATION TO INJURY RISK
Author
Collins, Joseph
Date
2014Type
Dissertation
Publisher
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study looked at movement patterns in elite tennis in relation to injury risk and gender
difference at the US Open grand slam tennis event. The aim of the study was to identify
what movement patterns that were deemed to have an injury risk occur most frequently in
tennis and to see if there is a gender difference between movement patterns. A pilot study
was conducted to look at what types of turns could be identified by observation. The
results from the pilot study were compared to the previous literature to identify what
movement patterns had high risk of injury. Studiocode was used to develop a data
collection system that allowed the operator to watch pre recorded matches and code when
an event/movement pattern was made. Clips of the event were recorded that could then
be labelled to describe the following; type of event, direction of movement before the
event, direction of turn, angle of turn and movement direction after. Once all the events
were recorded and labelled the data was exported into an excel spreadsheet to be
analysed. A chi squared test was used to find the significant difference. A significant
difference was found between type of turn (p<0.001), events (p<0.001), angle of turn
(p<0.001) and the angle turned during sharp turns to the right (p<0.001). There was no
significant difference (p>0.05) between direction of sharp turn or sharp turns to the left.
Sharp turns were the most frequent type of turn(F=19.87, M=26.72 per set) , sharp turns
were also deemed to have a higher injury risk, no significant difference was found between
genders in relation to sharp turns. 45-90 ˚ was the most frequent angle of turn (F=16.25,
M=16.85 per set) found for both overall angle of turn and angle of turn during sharp turns.
The statistical data shows that there is little gender difference in the frequency of turns for
males and females. Male players make more braking movements and female players
make more accelerating movements. The appeared to be a clear overall movement
pattern where players moving in a forward direction, making a sharp turn in either direction
about 45-90 ˚ and then moving sideways towards the centre of the court. The results
showed little gender difference in terms of frequency however from observation it was
clear there was a difference in technique. The findings from this study can be used when
developing strength and conditioning programmes from players. The method used can
also be used for future research and this study has opened up the opportunity for
movement patterns in tennis to be researched in much more detail.
Description
DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS)
SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENCE
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, subject and abstract.
-
Injury risk during netball competition: an observational investigation
Darnell, Eleanor (University of Wales Institute Cardiff, 2008)Speed, agility and injury risk have been investigated through the technique observational analysis of sport behaviour. Netball requires both speed and agility to enhance performance, though such aspects can be the cause ... -
The Influence of Tennis Playing Ability on Change of Direction Speed and Reactive Agility
Ward, David (University of Wales, 2011)Player’s movements in tennis comprise of short, sharp, high intensity movements, intermittent in nature. Despite the importance of these movements, an absence of research was observed in the area of tennis-specific agility. ... -
A movement classification for the investigation of agility demands and injury risk in sport
Robinson, Gemma; O'Donoghue, Peter (2008)The purpose of the current paper is to propose a movement classification scheme to be used when investigating injury risk from movement and agility demands of sporting activities. The method was tested and found to be ...