Three-dimensional shoulder mobility correlates with swimming speed in sub-elite adolescent athletes: a cross-sectional biomechanical analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v75.117334Keywords:
Shoulder mobility, swimming speed, biomechanics, HumanTrak, motion analysisAbstract
Introduction: Shoulder mobility is crucial for swimming performance, especially in freestyle strokes. However, there's limited evidence linking 3D shoulder mobility and in-water velocity in young swimmers.
Objective: To examine the relationship between sub-elite adolescent swimmers' 200-meter freestyle swimming speed and their three-dimensional shoulder mobility.
Methodology: Sixteen sub-elite swimmers (mean age = 14.94 ± 1.81 years) participated in a cross-sectional correlational study. The VALD HumanTrak™ markerless motion-capture system was used to measure shoulder mobility, recording bilateral flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and rotational ranges. A 200-meter freestyle maximal effort trial was used to measure swimming velocity, stroke frequency, and stroke length. Spearman's rank coefficients (p < 0.05) were used for correlation analysis.
Results: Swimming speed was found to have strong and significant positive correlations with the flexion-extension range of motion (r = 0.905), right-side adduction (r = 0.981), and the total abduction-adduction range (r = 0.981). In contrast, metrics of left-side mobility demonstrated weaker or non-significant correlations. These performance trends were further supported by stroke kinematics, which displayed a negative correlation with stroke frequency (r = -0.843) and a positive correlation with stroke length (r = 0.830).
Discussion: These findings highlight the biomechanical importance of dominant-limb shoulder mobility in enhancing swimming propulsion. Bilateral asymmetry may reflect functional adaptations rather than impairments.
Conclusions: Swimming speed is significantly influenced by shoulder mobility, especially on the dominant side, which can be effectively utilized in training planning and identifying potential talent.
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