Quantification of upper limb kinetic asymmetries in front crawl swimming

Morouço, Pedro; Marinho, Daniel A.; Fernandes, Ricardo J.; Marques, Mário C.

Publication

Quantification of upper limb kinetic asymmetries in front crawl swimming

2015-04Journal article

datacite.subject.fos	Engenharia e Tecnologia
datacite.subject.sdg	09:Indústria, Inovação e Infraestruturas
dc.contributor.author	Morouço, Pedro
dc.contributor.author	Marinho, Daniel A.
dc.contributor.author	Fernandes, Ricardo J.
dc.contributor.author	Marques, Mário C.
dc.date.accessioned	2025-07-07T16:11:40Z
dc.date.available	2025-07-07T16:11:40Z
dc.date.issued	2015-04
dc.description.abstract	This study aimed at quantifying upper limb kinetic asymmetries in maximal front crawl swimming and to examine if these asymmetries would affect the contribution of force exertion to swimming performance. Eighteen high level male swimmers with unilateral breathing patterns and sprint or middle distance specialists, volunteered as participants. A load-cell was used to quantify the forces exerted in water by completing a 30. s maximal front crawl tethered swimming test and a maximal 50. m free swimming was considered as a performance criterion. Individual force-time curves were obtained to calculate the mean and maximum forces per cycle, for each upper limb. Following, symmetry index was estimated and breathing laterality identified by questionnaire. Lastly, the pattern of asymmetries along the test was estimated for each upper limb using linear regression of peak forces per cycle. Asymmetrical force exertion was observed in the majority of the swimmers (66.7%), with a total correspondence of breathing laterality opposite to the side of the force asymmetry. Forces exerted by the dominant upper limb presented a higher decrease than from the non-dominant. Very strong associations were found between exerted forces and swimming performance, when controlling the isolated effect of symmetry index. Results point that force asymmetries occur in the majority of the swimmers, and that these asymmetries are most evident in the first cycles of a maximum bout. Symmetry index stood up as an influencing factor on the contribution of tethered forces over swimming performance. Thus, to some extent, a certain degree of asymmetry is not critical for short swimming performance.	eng
dc.description.sponsorship	Funding text The authors wish to thank Henrique Neiva for his useful help during data collection and to all the swimmers and coaches for their collaboration. This investigation was supported by grants of the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation ( SFRH/BD/66910/2009 ) and University of Beira Interior ( UBI/FCSH/Santander/2010 ).
dc.identifier.citation	Morouço PG, Marinho DA, Fernandes RJ, Marques MC. Quantification of upper limb kinetic asymmetries in front crawl swimming. Hum Mov Sci. 2015 Apr;40:185-92. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2014.12.012. Epub 2015 Jan 12. PMID: 25591132.
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.humov.2014.12.012
dc.identifier.issn	0167-9457
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/13565
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.peerreviewed	yes
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation	AVALIAÇÃO DA PRODUÇÃO DE FORÇA EM NADO AMARRADO E EM SECO: RELAÇÃO COM A PERFORMANCE DESPORTIVA; DIFERENÇAS BILATERAIS DE FORÇA E INDICADORES DE CAPACIDADE ANAERÓBIA
dc.relation.hasversion	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167945714002395
dc.relation.ispartof	Human Movement Science
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject	Force
dc.subject	Performance
dc.subject	Symmetry
dc.subject	Training
dc.title	Quantification of upper limb kinetic asymmetries in front crawl swimming	eng
dc.type	journal article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
oaire.awardTitle	AVALIAÇÃO DA PRODUÇÃO DE FORÇA EM NADO AMARRADO E EM SECO: RELAÇÃO COM A PERFORMANCE DESPORTIVA; DIFERENÇAS BILATERAIS DE FORÇA E INDICADORES DE CAPACIDADE ANAERÓBIA
oaire.awardURI	http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/13564
oaire.citation.endPage	192
oaire.citation.startPage	185
oaire.citation.title	Human Movement Science
oaire.citation.volume	40
oaire.fundingStream	FARH
oaire.version	http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
person.familyName	Morouço
person.givenName	Pedro
person.identifier	435983
person.identifier.ciencia-id	F619-3996-742A
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-5956-9790
person.identifier.rid	K-9545-2013
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	24339135400
relation.isAuthorOfPublication	05b28d80-9e18-41cc-a66c-f37955bfc8da
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	05b28d80-9e18-41cc-a66c-f37955bfc8da
relation.isProjectOfPublication	162a9f8c-be6f-4e90-9829-a402b18bad73
relation.isProjectOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	162a9f8c-be6f-4e90-9829-a402b18bad73