Effekter av funktionell träning och medicinbollkast för att optimera kinematic sequence och x-factor stretch i golfsvingen

Sammanfattning: The interest for functional strength training in golf has grown the last decade and scientists are always trying to find training stategies to improve the biomechanical aspects of the swing. Kinematic sequence contains a proximal-to-distal sequence order towards impact, and an effective kinematic sequence in the down swing begins with a rotation in the pelvis and follows by an activation in thorax, arms and club in the respective order. The rotational torques in the proximal segments wanders through the body and to the more distal segments to create an effective energy – and power transfer at impact. The x-factor stretch is the seperation between the rotation in the pelvis and the thorax at the top of the back swing and at the beginning of the down swing. The kinematic sequence and x-factor stretch have been examined in recent studies and have established a correlation with club head speed, driving distance and accuracy. Although, studies have not found reliable training strategies for improving these aspects. The objectives of the study was to investigate if functional strength training and golf specific medicine ball throws for ten weeks could optimize a more effective kinematic sequence and increase the x-factor stretch among six elite amateur golfers. The medicine ball throw was performed by throwing the ball towards a visual ball placement on the ground and with an emphasis on power, and the functional strength training focused on dynamic stretching in thoracic spine and on pelvic – and core stability. The biomechanical data was collected by TPI 3D and were analyzed through mean values, standard deviations and student’s t-tests. The results showed significant improvements in the peak timing pre- impact of the club and in the pelvis, and also in the x-factor stretch. Improvements did also appear in peak speeds, acceleration and consistency within the group. Individual and significant differences could also be seen regarding timing, peak speed, acceleration, deceleration and angular speed gain between the segments. The study detected some distinct tendencies that could serve as a base for future studies.