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Introduction to Sports Biomechanics: Analysing Human Movement ...

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INTRODUCTION TO SPORTS BIOMECHANICS<br />

the body. In such research, movement data from videography, or another motion<br />

analysis system, are used with force, <strong>to</strong>rque and centre of pressure data <strong>to</strong> calculate the<br />

resultant forces and <strong>to</strong>rques at body joints. The two recording systems need <strong>to</strong> be<br />

synchronised for such investigations.<br />

Force plates can be obtained in a variety of sizes. The most commonly used have<br />

a relatively small contact area, for example 600 × 400 mm for the Kistler<br />

type 9281B11 (Kistler Instrument Corporation, Winterthur, Switzerland; http://<br />

www.kistler.com) or 508 × 643 mm for the AMTI model 0R6–5–1 (Advanced<br />

Mechanical Technology Incorporated, Water<strong>to</strong>wn, MA, USA; http://<br />

www.amtiweb.com) and weigh between 310 and 410 N, although much lighter<br />

plates have recently become available. They are normally bolted <strong>to</strong> a base plate set in<br />

concrete.<br />

Forces of interaction between the sports performer and items of sports equipment<br />

can also be measured using other force transducers, usually purpose-built or adapted for<br />

a particular application. Such transducers have been used, for example, <strong>to</strong> measure the<br />

forces exerted by a rower on an oar, or by a cyclist on his or her bike’s pedals. Many of<br />

the principles discussed in this chapter for force plates also apply <strong>to</strong> force transducers in<br />

general. Further consideration of the operation of these, usually specialist, devices will<br />

not be undertaken in this book.<br />

One limitation of force plates is that they do not show how the applied force is<br />

distributed over the contact surface, for example the shoe or the foot. This information<br />

can be obtained from pressure plates, pads and insoles, which will be considered in the<br />

next section.<br />

Force plates used <strong>to</strong> evaluate sporting performance are sophisticated electronic<br />

devices and are generally very accurate. Essentially, they can be considered as weighing<br />

Figure 5.20 Ground contact force (F x, F y, F z) and moment (or <strong>to</strong>rque) (M x, M y, M z) components that act on the sports<br />

performer.<br />

202

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