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Biomechanical symmetry in elite rugby union players during dynamic tasks: an investigation using discrete and continuous data analysis techniques

Marshall, Brendan, Moran, Kieran orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-2015-8967, Franklyn-Miller, Andrew orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-7826-2209, King, Enda, Richter, Chris, Gore, Shane orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-3077-2787, Strike, Siobhan orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-8195-6888 and Falvey, Eanna (2015) Biomechanical symmetry in elite rugby union players during dynamic tasks: an investigation using discrete and continuous data analysis techniques. BMC Sports Science Medicine and Rehabilitation, 7 (13). ISSN 2052-1847

Abstract
Background: While measures of asymmetry may provide a means of identifying individuals predisposed to injury, normative asymmetry values for challenging sport specific movements in elite athletes are currently lacking in the literature. In addition, previous studies have typically investigated symmetry using discrete point analyses alone. This study examined biomechanical symmetry in elite rugby union players using both discrete point and continuous data analysis techniques. Methods: Twenty elite injury free international rugby union players (mean ± SD: age 20.4 ± 1.0 years; height 1.86 ± 0.08m; mass 98.4 ± 9.9kg) underwent biomechanical assessment. A single leg drop landing, a single leg hurdle hop, and a running cut were analysed. Peak joint angles and moments were examined in the discrete point analysis while analysis of characterising phases (ACP) techniques were used to examine the continuous data. Dominant side was compared to non-dominant side using dependent t-tests for normally distributed data or Wilcoxon signed-rank test for non-normally distributed data. The significance level was set at α = 0.05. Results: The majority of variables displayed no significant asymmetries (p < 0.05) in the discrete point analysis (51/54 variables) or in the ACP (49/54). The ACP identified two additional asymmetries not identified in the discrete point analysis. The five variables that were found to be asymmetrical were hip abductor moments in the drop landing (p = 0.02), pelvis lift/drop in the drop landing (p = 0.04) and hurdle hop (p = 0.02), ankle internal rotation moments in the cut (p = 0.04) and ankle dorsiflexion angles also in the cut (p = 0.01). Conclusions: Elite injury free rugby union players tend to exhibit bi-lateral symmetry across a broad range of biomechanical variables in a drop landing, hurdle hop and cut. This study provides useful normative values for inter-limb symmetry in these movement tests. When examining symmetry it is recommended to incorporate continuous data analysis techniques rather than a discrete point analysis alone; a discrete point analysis was unable to detect two of the five asymmetries identified.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Landing; Cutting; Dominant versus non-dominant; Kinetics; Kinematics
Subjects:Medical Sciences > Biomechanics
Medical Sciences > Sports sciences
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Health and Human Performance
Research Institutes and Centres > INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics
Publisher:Biomedcentral
Official URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13102-015-0006-9
Copyright Information:© 2015 The Authors
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:Insight Centre for Data Analytics
ID Code:20636
Deposited On:16 Sep 2015 11:05 by Brendan Marshall . Last Modified 30 Jan 2019 12:34
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