Changes in Ball Speed and Kinematics of Tennis Serve in Wheelchair Sitting

Along with the rising of concerns for health and the development of sports medicine, as well as the enlarging wheelchair population due to the advance in medical industry, more and more wheelchair users participate in various wheelchair sports in the recent years in Taiwan, especially the wheelchair tennis. Participating in suchlike sports involves with risk of injury, similar to the counterparts of able-body tennis, however, with unique injury patterns and mechanisms. According to our observation and previous research, most wheelchair athletes have musculoskeletal problems resulting from repetitive mechanical stress and overuse. These injuries mainly resulted from the intensive wheelchair manipulation, such as propelling, starting, stopping, and changing directions, as well as numerous racket stroking. These excessive loads might directly lead to the injuries in the upper extremity and torso, or through indirect compensatory or synergetic mechanisms to secondary problems. With the intension to better help these athletes and ensure a safe and enjoyable participation, our research team will continue our work with a further step, based on the capacity and trend from precious years, to investigate wheelchair tennis serving biomechanics. Specifically, we plan to measure the ball trajectory and speed, the simultaneous ranges of motion and angular velocities of the upper extremity joints in wheelchair tennis serving, and compare them with those in regular standing serving, using a high-speed video, a radar velociometer, and a 3D electromagnetic motion analysis system. These data will help us locate the concentration of excessive loads on the sitting server.With further analysis and joining of previous injury epidemiology data, specific conclusion and suggestion can thus be made to promote this sport and protect the participants.

Project ID:PC9709-0461
External Project ID:NSC97-2410-H182-019