Professional Documents
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November 1995 RS Welch
November 1995 RS Welch
Official Publication of the Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy Sections of the American Physical Therapy Association
or as long as the game of A tremendous amount of time and energy has been dedicated to the development of
baseball has been played, conditioning programs, mechanics drills, and rehabilitation protocols for the throwing athlete. In
hitting has intrigued play- comparison, a significantly smaller amount has been spent on the needs of the hitting athlete. Before
ers, coaches, and research- these needs can be addressed, an understanding of mechanics and the demands placed on the body
ers alike. Advancing tech- during the swing must be developed. This study uses three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data to
nology has facilitated the ability to define and quantify biomechanics during the baseball swing. The results show that a hitter starts the
capture the act of hitting and analyze swing with a weight shih toward the rear foot and the generation of trunk coil. As the hitter strides
the mechanics involved. In 1961, forward, force applied by the front foot equal to 123% of body weight promotes segment acceler-
Race (14), with the aid of a 16mm . hip segment rotates to a maximum speed of 714Ysec
ation around the axis of the t ~ n k The
movie camera and the swings of 17 followed by a maximum shoulder segment velocity of 937%~.The product of this kinetic link is a
minor league players, presented one maximum linear bat velocity of 31 dsec. By quantikng the hitting motion, a more educated
of the first effective qualitative and approach can be made in developing rehabilitation, strength, and conditioning programs for the
quantitative breakdowns of the over- hitting athlete.
all swing. The concepts of kinetic Key Words: biomechanics, baseball, batting
linking, angular measurement, bal-
ance, and judgment time were intro-
'President, Human Performance Technologies, Inc., 825 South U.S. Highway One, Suite 200, jupiter, FL
33477
duced and supported with data. Technical Director, Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Good Samaritan Medical Center, West Palm Beach, FL
In subsequent studies, the ability 'Co-Medical Director, Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Good Samaritan Medical Center, West Palm
to transform standard film and video Beach, FL
into a three-dimensional representa- Consultant, Orthopa& Research Laboratory, Good Samaritan Medical Center, West Palm Beach, FL
tion of the captured hitting motion
not only increased the accuracy of
measurement, but introduced new
analysis parameters. Using this tech- been developed, we can move on to tested at an indoor biomechanics fa-
nology, Shapiro (17), in a study of investigate the intricacies of specific cility. In order to maintain uniformity
bat dynamics, described the bat's mechanical parameters and relate in the population used for this study,
movement during the swing using this information to a hitter's ability at only the right-handed subjects were
the three-dimensional components the plate. The goal of this study was considered. Of the 25 right-handed
of its motion, while DeRenne (4), to develop an understanding of base- hitters, only those who had at least
through a series of studies, developed line mechanics through quantitative 100 "at-bats" and a minimum batting
an elaborate method of assessing a biomechanical data and provide a average of .250 during the 1993 sea-
hitter's mechanical efficiency. preliminary synthesis of results for son were included. Each minor
The combination of biomechani- the application to training and reha- league player's batting statistics were
bilitation. combined for all clubs and organiza-
cal research and traditional baseball
knowledge has begun the process of tions played with during the 1993
research and investigation (1,6,7,12, season.
METHODS
18.19). The missing component to Data included in this study, based
this point has been the ability to Testing Procedure on the defined criteria, were gener-
build a comprehensive understanding ated from seven subjects. The mean
of the body's natural coordination Thirty-nine (25 right-handed hit- batting average for the subjects was
and movement during the swing. ters and 14 left-handed hitters) male .293 ( t .OX) and the average num-
Once a baseline understanding has professional baseball players were ber of "at-bats" was 273 ( t 168). The
three-dimensional position of the der and the arms were defined as a The third was ball contact. It was de-
center of mass for each individual vector from mid-shoulders to mid- fined as the instant the bat made
segment was calculated, weighted by wrists. Their interaction was the rota- contact with the ball, beginning the
its percentage of body mass, and tion around a common axis. This axis follow-through.
summed to produce the position of was defined as the axis of the trunk
the whole body center of mass in from mid-hips to mid-shoulders and RESULTS
global coordinates. the rotation was measured with re-
spect to the global X axis. Before the parameters were cal-
Stride The orientation of the trunk axis culated, all threedimensional data
was also measured. It was defined as were smoothed using a fourth-order,
As the hitter strode forward and the angle formed between the vector zero phase shift, low pass Butterworth
the front foot made contact with the representing the trunk and the global filter with a cut-off frequency of 13.3
ground, the length and direction of Z axis in the median plane (+ = Hz. The individual data included for
the stride as well as the position of flexion, - = extension) and the each of the seven subjects were gen-
the left (front) foot were defined frontal plane (+ = right, - = left) erated as the average of their three
(Figure 2B). Stride length was the of the body. line drive swings. Mean kinematic
distance between the right and left and kinetic data 5 standard deviation
toe at foot down. It was expressed as Bat Movement for the seven subjects are presented
a value in cm and as a percentage of in Tables 1-4.
the width of the hips from right hip The movement of the bat can be
center to left hip center. The direc- described by bat lag (2,4,11) and the BIOMECHANICAL DESCRIPTION
tion of the stride was the angle linear velocity of the end of the bat
formed between the vector from (9,17). For this paper, bat lag was The swing was initiated with a
right to left toe and the global X axis defined as the absolute angle formed weight shift toward the right (back)
(+ = closed, - = open). The posi- between the vector representing the leg. At approximately the same time,
tion of the left foot was the angle bat from the handle to the barrel the upper body rotated in a clockwise
formed between the vector from left and the vector from mid-shoulders to direction (Figure 2C) around the
ankle to left forefoot and the global mid-wrists. When the bat was fully axis of the trunk, initiated by the
X axis (+ = closed, - = open). extended away from the arms and arms and shoulders, and followed
Both were expressed in degrees. both the vector representing the bat closely by the hips. This began the
and the vector representing the arms coiling process.
were in line, the corresponding bat
lag angle was 180". The linear veloc- Foot OffIStride
Flexion and extension of the left ity at the barrel end of the bat was
and right knee as well as the left and defined by the first derivative of each Immediately following the initia-
right elbow (8) were defined as the of the component displacements in tion of coiling, the left (front) leg
absolute angle formed between the the global reference frame (Figure was lifted and the left foot broke con-
proximal and distal segments com- 2A) and the resultant magnitude. tact with the ground (foot off), in-
prising the joint. Full anatomical ex- creasing the total force applied by
tension of the joint corresponded to Batting Events the right (back) foot to a value of
0" while full anatomical flexion of 102% of body weight. Part of the to-
the joint corresponded to 180". For the purpose of describing a tal force applied by each foot was
hitter's natural coordination and shear force acting parallel to the
Segment Rotation movement, three key events were ground in the global X and Y direc-
chosen as both landmarks for refer- tions. Ground reaction to the shear
A hitter's ability to utilize a ki- ence and for the identification of key force promoted the linear and rota-
netic link to generate bat speed de- mechanical transitions. The first was tional movement of the hitter. At
pended heavily on the interaction of foot off. It was defined as the instant foot off, the right foot applied 146 N
three body segments (4.1 1,13). The the left (front) foot broke contact of shear force in the negative X di-
segments were the hips, shoulders, with the ground and began the rection and 26 N in the positive Y
and the arms (Figure 2C). The hips stride. The second was foot down. It direction. The right knee was flexed
were defined as a vector from the was defined as the instant the left at 32" and the center of pressure had
right hip to the left hip. The shoul- foot made full contact with the moved in the negative X direction
ders were defined as a vector from ground, ending the stride and begin- toward the right foot to a point 20
the right shoulder to the left shoul- ning closed chain energy transfer. cm behind the center of mass. The
Left Foot
Total force (N) 1007 472 709 270
Percent of body weight 123 63 84 32
X component (N) 292 167 153 146
Y component (N) -280 125 28 65
- Z component (N) -91 7 429 -672 270
SD = Standard dwi~tion.
TABLE 1. Force applied by each foot at key points in swing.
- the same time, continued in a clock- plied by the right foot had decreased
Parameter X SD
wise rotation around the axis of the to 58% of body weight. As a part of
HMRV ("lsec) 714 76
SMRV ("Isec) 937 102 trunk, increasing the coil of the u p the total force applied by the right
AMRV (O/sec) 1160 96 per body against the movement of foot, 80 N of shear force were a p
BLMRV ("Isec) 1588 162 the hips and shoulders. plied in the negative X direction and
BMLV (rnfsec) 31 2 184 N of shear force were applied in
SD = Standard &viation. Foot Contact the positive Y direction. At that point,
HMRV = Hip segment maximum rotational velocity. the center of pressure had made a
SMRV = Shoulder segment maximum rotational A. the left forefoot made contact drastic shift forward in the X direc-
velocity.
AMRV = Arm segment maximum rotational velocity.
with the ground, the length and di- tion to a point 20 cm ahead of the
BLMRV = Bat lag maximum rotational velocity. rection of the stride were defined. center of mass.
BMl V = Bat maximum linear velocity. The mean stride length was a dis- With the weight shift forward and
TABLE 2. Maximum segment rotational velocities tance of 85 cm or 380% of hip width. the shear force applied in the X and
and bar linear velocity. The direction of the stride was 12" Y direction by both the left and right
(closed) and the position of the foot foot, segments were now accelerated
as it began to make contact with the to maximum velocities a.the body
arms, which led the clockwise rota-
ground was 67" (closed) (Figure 2B). coordinated an effort to produce bat
tion, had rotated to 150" at foot off,
It was with left foot contact that the speed. The left leg extended at the
while the shoulders had rotated to
hitting action became a closed chain knee, pushing the left hip backward,
30". followed by the hips at 18". This
energy transfer. The arms which had while the right leg pushed the right
rotation occurred around an axis of
increased the coil of the upper body hip forward, creating a counterclock-
the trunk that was fairly upright. The
by continuing in a clockwise rotation wise acceleration of the hips around
trunk was flexed forward 21" and lat-
around the axis of the trunk reached the axis of the trunk. The rotational
erally left 6".
a maximum position of 185" and be- velocity of the hips increased until it
As the stride continued toward
foot down, the hips rotated to a max- gan a counterclockwise rotation. reached a maximum of 714"/sec,
imum position of 28", 0.350 seconds Weight was shifted forward as the 0.075 seconds prior to ball contact.
prior to ball contact. At that instant, heel of the left foot made contact The shoulders and arms, following
the hips began to rotate in a counter- with the ground (foot down). The the lead of the hips, accelerated to a
clockwise direction. The shoulders, left foot was in a position of 61" maximum rotational velocity of 937"/
however, continued in a clockwise (closed) and was applying a total sec and 1160°/sec, respectively, 0.065
direction, increasing the coil of the force equal to 123% of body weight seconds prior to ball contact.
trunk until they reached a maximum to the ground. As a part of the total As a result of the body's coordi-
rotation of 52", 0.265 seconds prior force applied by the left foot, 292 N nation, the bat also moved around
to ball contact. At that instant, they of shear force were applied in the the axis of the trunk, increasing in
changed direction and followed the positive X direction and 280 N of both angular velocity and linear ve-
lead of the hips in a counterclockwise shear force were applied in the nega- locity. The two main components of
rotation toward the ball. The arms, at tive Y direction. The total force a p linear movement were anterior or
anterior SUMMARY
The purpose of this study was to
provide a foundation for the biome-
chanical study of hitting and the pre-
liminary synthesis of data for applica-
Z COMPONENT tion to the rehabilitation and training
of the hitting athlete. This goal is
(m/4 achieved by presenting a biomechani-
cal description of hitting a baseball
down using the mean kinematic and kinetic
data of seven professional baseball play-
ers in a controlled environment The
emphasis of the data presented is the
portrayal of the body's natural motion
and coordination.
Additional studies are being con-
LINEAR VELOCITY ducted and will focus specifically on:
(m/s> 1) the relationship between the rota-
tional and linear components of
weight transfer, 2) the specific inter-
-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 action of segments involved in the
Time (s) kinetic link, and 3) the acceleration
and power with which the bat moves
FIGURE 4. Component and resultant linear velocities of the bat during a ~ypicalbaseball swing. Vertical axis is into contact with the ball. Each of
velocity (dsecj and horizontalaxis is time (seconds). Time of 0.0 represents ball contact. the additional studies will concen-
trate on a specific area of biomechan-
ics introduced in this study. This will
Regardless of individual mechan- most efficient acceleration of each allow the concepts and principles
ics, the hip segment is accelerated successive segment, culminating with involved to be fully investigated. The
around the axis of the trunk to a the bat. Proper timing facilitates suc- combination of all these studies will
maximum velocity. This increases the cessively higher rotational velocities provide a comprehensive understand-
velocity of the entire system moving (Table 2). which, in turn, produce ing of the biomechanics and coordi-
in the intended direction. The hip bat speed and power. Conversely, if a nation involved during the baseball
segment is then decelerated, as the smaller adjacent segment reaches a swing. In addition, they will provide a
shoulder segment is accelerated, uti- maximum velocity before the preced- stepping stone for the total under-
lizing the kinetic link principle (4,11, ing base segment, then it has lost the standing of a hitter's performance at
13). Again, timing is essential for the ability to make full use of the speed the plate. JOSPT