PROJECT PARTNERS
This project is a cooperative effort between:
· Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation.
· Royal Netherlands Lawn Tennis Association.
· Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
· Delft University of Technology.
· Manual Fysion.
· PLUX.
FUNDING
The project is funded by the NWO Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES) under project number [R/003635].
BACKGROUND
In both baseball and tennis, throwing and hitting a ball is a fast pre-planned action based on engrained motor patterns that involve the whole body. In these motions correct relative timing of body part motions is essential. Despite the current body of knowledge regarding hitting biomechanics on the one hand and injury-prone structures on the other, no useful guidelines regarding the prevention of overload injuries or the ‘correct’ throwing or hitting technique have been developed.
The key reasons for this are:
The lack of measurement systems that allow for fast and unhindered recording of motion timing;
The missing link between motion timing and mechanical loading of anatomical structures;
The missing link between mechanical loading, intersegmental coordination and injury risk.
Since in tennis and baseball performance is highly dependent on (highly repetitive!) fast pre-planned full-body actions that can only marginally be modified during the action itself, pain, injury or weakness somewhere in the kinetic chain can lead to faulty coordination and related injury elsewhere in the chain, usually more distally at the level of the arm or elbow. Proper retraining of ‘correct coordination’ is essential to be able to return to the sport (RTS). While to date the focus in retraining is on identification of strength imbalance and limitations in range of motion, these are likely only secondary factors in the correct coordination. Correct relative timing, is believed to be the key factor. This applies especially to the motion of the scapula, as the bridge between trunk motion (the motor) and arm motion (the ‘whip’). Up till now relative timing has had low attention in rehabilitation practice. In this project we will develop (1) a feedback system on motion timing, link this system to a platform for the monitoring of athlete health status and develop an algorithm for the (interactive) quantification of injury risk (accumulated value) and stroke or throw performance (incidental value); (2) an integrated method, requiring online monitoring of progress, for the detailed quantification of relative timing in and after upper extremity injury to improve rehabilitation, modify injury risk, and facilitate the RTS process.
OBJECTIVES
The project goal is to break the high load due to bad coordination in overhead sports injuries, by developing a system for risk identification and modification through new feedback applications based on motion timing.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information and current updates on the project please refer to our website: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/3me/research/check-out-our-science/playing-scientifically-sound-baseball-and-tennis/