Table 3.
Biomechanical comparison of selected overhead skills in female athletes.
| Current Study: Volleyball |
Chu et al6 | Elliott et al13 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-body Spike | Jump Serve | Baseball Pitch: Fastball | Tennis Serve | |
| Skill/experience level | Collegiate | Collegiate | Elite | Olympic |
| Sex | Female | Female | Female | Female |
| Sample size | 14 | 5 | 11 | 12 |
| Ball speed (m/s) | 16 ± 2 | 16 ± 2 | 27 ± 2 | 42 ± 4 |
| Kinematics | ||||
| Maximum shoulder external rotation (°) | 160 ± 10 | 164 ± 11 | 180 ± 10 | 172 ± 12 |
| Maximum elbow angular velocity (°/s) | 1579 ± 194 | 1535 ± 286 | 2060 ± 370 | 1510 ± 310 |
| Maximum shoulder internal rotation angular velocity (°/s) | 2444 ± 608 | 2505 ± 1005 | 5630 ± 1590 | 1370 ± 730 |
| Shoulder abduction at ball contact or release (°) | 130 ± 8 | 129 ± 11 | 89 ± 6 | 101 ± 11 |
| Elbow flexion at ball contact or release (°) | 34 ± 10 | 48 ± 26 | 31 ± 10 | 20 ± 4 |
| Shoulder horizontal adduction at ball contact or release (°) | 29 ± 14 | 23 ± 24 | 9 ± 8 | 5 ± 10 |
| Kinetics | ||||
| Maximum shoulder proximal force (N) | 399 ± 64 | 358 ± 75 | 510 ± 108 | 608 ± 110 |
| Maximum elbow proximal force (N) | 295 ± 63 | 277 ± 63 | 453 ± 60 | N/A |
| Maximum shoulder internal rotation torque (N·m) | 37 ± 9 | 40 ± 10 | 48 ± 11 | 65 ± 16 |
| Maximum elbow varus torque (N·m) | 38 ± 9 | 43 ± 11 | 46 ± 9 | 68 ± 16 |