Relationship between muscle coordination and racket mass during forehand drive in tennis

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the trunk and upper limb muscle coordination and mass of the tennis racket during forehand drive. A total of 15 male tennis players performed seven series of ten crosscourt forehand drives, both with their personal racket and six rackets with increased mass ranging from 6 to 16% (step = 2%) of their personal racket mass. The electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from nine trunk and upper limb muscles. The onset before impact and EMGrms values of the bursts were individually calculated. Results showed that the ball speed and the muscle activation temporal sequences were similar, whatever the increase in racket mass. Interestingly, in all participants, the activation level of the pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi and biceps brachii decreased when the racket mass increased, while the variations in the anterior deltoid activation level were correlated to the individual personal racket mass. These findings strongly suggest that the study of muscle activity during tennis practice should be considered as a complementary technique to determine a better adequacy of the racket characteristics to those of the player.

Electromyographic assessment of forearm muscle function in tennis players with and without Lateral Epicondylitis

“…Except one study, all others included muscles from both wrist extensor and flexor groups (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006). Six studies 200 envisioned to study ECRB and ECRL individually (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Giangarra et al, 1993;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989) while seven others collected collective signals from wrist extensors (i.e.…”

“…Six studies 200 envisioned to study ECRB and ECRL individually (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Giangarra et al, 1993;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989) while seven others collected collective signals from wrist extensors (i.e. ECR or wrist extensor group) (Adelsberg, 1986;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006). All of studies reporting muscle activation levels used EMG 205 during maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) or maximal voluntary effort (MVE) referred to as EMG max for normalisation purpose (Adelsberg, 1986;Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006).…”

“…A total of 216 participants were recruited and tested in these studies including 198 healthy controls and 18 LE patients. Only two studies involved both patient and control groups (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Kelley et al, 1994) and remaining eleven studies recruited only healthy participants (Adelsberg, 1986;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 165 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006). The gender, age (rang or mean), and body demographics (height and weight) were reported in eleven (Adelsberg, 1986;Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), 170 eight (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Kelley et al, 1994;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), and five studies (Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), respectively.…”

“…The majority of studies (except two) described skill level of tennis players (Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006). The largest and smallest sample sizes were twenty nine (Rogowski et al, 2011) and four (Adelsberg, 1986), respectively.…”

“…With regard to EMG technique, fine-wire (FWEMG) and surface electrodes (SEMG) were used in four (Giangarra et al, 1993;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989) and nine studies (Adelsberg, 1986;Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;195 Chow et al, 2007;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), respectively. Except one study, all others included muscles from both wrist extensor and flexor groups (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006).…”