Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations Graduate Capstone Projects 4-26-2013 Upper extremity vertical ground reaction forces during the back handspring skill in gymnastics: A comparison of various braced vs. unbraced techniques Salina Halliday Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/theses Part of the Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons Recommended Citation Halliday, Salina, "Upper extremity vertical ground reaction forces during the back handspring skill in gymnastics: A comparison of various braced vs. unbraced techniques" (2013). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 495. http://commons.emich.edu/theses/495 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Graduate Capstone Projects at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UPPER EXTREMITY VERTICAL GROUND REACTION FORCES DURING THE BACK HANDSPRING SKILL IN GYMNASTICS: A COMPARISON OF VARIOUS BRACED VS. UNBRACED TECHNIQUES by Salina Halliday Thesis Submitted to the School of Health and Human Performance Eastern Michigan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Exercise Physiology Thesis Committee: Tony Moreno, Ph.D. Stephen McGregor, Ph. D. James Sweet, ATC April 26, 2013 Ypsilanti, Michigan ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my family for always being supportive and endlessly providing motivation through this entire process. To my father, Douglas, thank you for being a steady rock that always reminds me, in your quiet manner, to come back down to earth and do what needs to be done. Thank you to my mother, Elizabeth, for always believing that I can do anything and to always push forward through challenging times. Thank you to Devin for being there for the most absurd telephone conversations when I’m in need of a mental release. Last, thank you to Nathan and Jess for “celebrating my birthday” after the completion of my defense. It was a great relief to finally complete the defense and I appreciate you both stopping in your tracks that day (with little to no warning) to celebrate the accomplishment. Tony Moreno, thank you for your patience and your positivity in completing this process. You have always been supportive in helping me fit everything around the busy schedule that is inherent to the life of an Athletic Trainer. In addition, you made yourself available as a mentor and were always there to assist through the “burn out” of graduate school. I look up to you as a professor and as a person, and I hope to someday treat my own students with the same respect, patience, and enthusiasm. I would also like to give a special thank you to the Michigan State Athletic Training staff, graduate students, coaches, and friends for being flexible through the data collection and through this entire process. I am indebted to you all for your encouragement, your understanding, and your unending ability to motivate others to make the very best of every day. This is a quality that I believe represents most of those I’ve had the pleasure of working with at MSU, and it’s something that I hope to always embrace. ii ABSTRACT High, overuse injury rates to the wrist have been associated with the common mechanism of repetitive hyperextension in weight bearing among gymnasts of all ages. Many gymnasts use wrist supports as prevention; however, literature regarding their ability to reduce injury is not well described. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of Tiger Paw wrist guards and circumferential wrist taping techniques on the kinetics of the wrist during the performance of a back handspring. Vertical Ground Reaction Forces (VGRF) sustained at the hand, time to peak VGRF, and total time of hand contact on the force plate were assessed for each condition per subject. The results indicated no significant difference in the VGRF, time to peak VGRF, and total time of hand contact when comparing the conditions. Further research regarding wrist guard use in gymnastics and additional injury prevention strategies should be evaluated. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: Introduction and Background ...................................................................................1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Common injuries in women's gymnastics ...............................................................3 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................6 Significance of the Study .....................................................................................................6 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................6 RQ I .........................................................................................................................6 RQ II ........................................................................................................................7 RQ III .......................................................................................................................7 Delimitations ........................................................................................................................7 Limitations ...........................................................................................................................7 Operational Definitions ........................................................................................................7 CHAPTER II: Review of Literature ..............................................................................................10 NCAA Injury Epidemiology in Women's Gymnastics ......................................................10 Wrist Injury Epidemiology and Etiology in Women's Gymanstics ...................................12 Wrist injury epidemiology .....................................................................................12 Common etiology...................................................................................................13 Anatomy of the Wrist.........................................................................................................21 Kinetics and Kinematics of the Wrist ................................................................................24 Biomechanics of the Back Handspring ..............................................................................27 Most Common Wrist Injuries in Women's Gymnastics ....................................................39 The "gymnast wrist" injury ....................................................................................40 Ulnar variance and the gymnast wrist injury .........................................................40 iv The gymnast wrist injury in relation to age ...........................................................44 Secondary effects of the gymnast wrist injury .......................................................44 Triangular fibrocartilage complex tears .................................................................48 Focal lunate osteochondral defect ..........................................................................48 Ulnar impaction syndrome .....................................................................................50 Other wrist injuries related to the hyperextension etiology ...................................50 Scaphol-lunate Ligament tears ...............................................................................50 Longterm effects of injury .....................................................................................53 The Wrist Guard as Protection ...........................................................................................53 The Tiger Paw ........................................................................................................56 Athletic taping for circumferential support and compression................................59 CHAPTER III: Methods ...............................................................................................................61 Participants .........................................................................................................................61 Biomechanical analysis ..........................................................................................61 Recruiting participants ...........................................................................................61 Consent form ..........................................................................................................62 Pretesting evaluations ............................................................................................62 Equipment ..............................................................................................................63 Testing Procedures .............................................................................................................67 General warm up ....................................................................................................67 Testing....................................................................................................................67