Do footedness and strength asymmetry relate to the dominant stance in swimming track start?

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between lower limb asymmetry and stance preference in the swimming track start. Track start performances and asymmetry measures were collected from 11 male and 11 female competitive age group swimmers. The track start performance was defined as the time taken to reach the 5-m mark. Asymmetry measures included assessment of footedness using the revised version of the Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire and assessment of performance asymmetry in the one-legged countermovement jump. Participants performed five trials on each side of both the one-legged countermovement jump and the track start, and the best three trials of each were compared. Asymmetry was declared when at least two trials from one side were better than the contralateral side. While the majority of the participants produced better performances using the preferred track start stance, it was not related to footedness or the dominant limb for the one-legged countermovement jump. Further investigation is required to identify factors that predict the lateralised behaviour of the track start, and determine whether changing the stance would provide significant advantage.

Keywords:

• Asymmetry
• footedness
• swimming track start
• one-legged countermovement jump
• age group swimmers