Speed Rope Skipping - Performance and Coordination in a Four-Limb Task

Abstract

This study investigated biomechanical characteristics of Speed Rope Skipping (RS) and estimated the contribution of the lower and upper limbs to overall performance. Lower (jumping), upper (turning), and whole-body (skipping) performance were examined in 23 rope skippers. All tests were recorded by 2 D video and nine skipping tests were performed in a 3 D motion capture system. Similar movement patterns were observed for the lower limbs in all participants, while handle trajectories differed in shape and symmetry according to performance. In general, turning unlike jumping performance was close to and significantly correlated with skipping performance. Therefore, it appears that lower extremity movement may be adapted to the limiting capacity of the upper extremity to maintain movement stability.

Keywords:

• Jump rope
• kinematics
• motion capture
• limb contribution

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank all subjects participated in the study and their coaches.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by any of the authors.

FUNDING

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicolai Lorke

NL, SK, CD, PW, MS, MZ, BB, and RR conceptualized the experimental protocol and acquired data. NL, SK, BB, and RR analyzed and interpreted data, drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the manuscript.