Journal article
The Relationship Between Undulatory Underwater Kick Performance Determinants and Underwater Velocity in Competitive Swimmers: A Systematic Review
Sports Medicine - Open, Vol.8(1), pp.1-23
2022
PMCID: PMC9334501
PMID: 35900641
Abstract
Background: Undulatory underwater swimming (UUS) has become an integral component of the start and turn phases in competitive swimming allowing higher velocities than can be achieved swimming at the surface. An understanding of the most important determinants for UUS performance and how these can be optimised to different swimmers is poorly understood.
Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to systematically assess the current peer-reviewed literature on the relationship between UUS performance determinants and underwater velocity in competitive swimmers.
Methods: An electronic search using AusSportMed, Embase, PubMed, SPORTDiscus and Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming was performed. The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated using a biomechanics-specific checklist developed by Hindle and colleagues (Sports Med Open. 5(1):49, 2019. 10.1186/s40798-019-0222-z ).
Results: Twenty-five studies met the eligibility criteria. While UUS velocity was nearly perfectly related (r > 0.90) to foot resultant acceleration and kick frequency, several other biomechanical factors were also significant correlates. UUS velocity and frequency were typically higher in high-performance swimmers and during prone versus dorsal positions. UUS velocity, kick frequency and kick amplitude were also significantly correlated with high angular velocities of the hip, knee and ankle joints and knee range of motion.
Conclusion: While there appears to be evidence supporting some performance variables to be related to UUS, future research should examine how to optimise the kinematic and kinetic characteristics with respect to the imposed task constraints and organism constraints between swimmers. Additional research should also investigate the effect of biomechanically informed interventions to improve UUS performance.
Details
- Title
- The Relationship Between Undulatory Underwater Kick Performance Determinants and Underwater Velocity in Competitive Swimmers: A Systematic Review
- Authors
- Rani West (Corresponding Author) - Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Queensland Academy of SportAnna Lorimer (Author) - Bond UniversitySimon Pearson (Author) - Queensland Academy of SportJustin W. L. Keogh (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Publication details
- Sports Medicine - Open, Vol.8(1), pp.1-23
- Publisher
- SpringerOpen
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1186/s40798-022-00485-0
- ISSN
- 2198-9761
- PMID
- 35900641; PMC9334501
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99661598202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Web Of Science research areas
- Sport Sciences