- Title
- Dynamical systems approach to movement variability in elite youth basketball athletes
- Creator
- Birse, Samantha
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The use of dynamical systems theory in sports science has increased over the past two decades for assessing injury risk and performance. This approach differs from traditional methods that assess movement as body positions at specific points in time. Instead, it evaluates the movement patterns over a time series to investigate the variability of movement. The investigation of the variability of movement in sports science using this approach is at an early stage with ambiguity in the sports science literature as to how this approach might be applied. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how a dynamical systems approach to examine movement variability can be applied to sports science. There is a particular focus in this thesis on methodologies used to assess movement variability and the application of these methods to lower limb mechanics during treadmill running in elite youth basketball players in response to basketball game play. Firstly, the literature on motor control theories perspective of movement variability was explored and an array of methods to assess movement variability and coordination patterns were reviewed. From the literature review, it was apparent that nonlinear analysis methods are starting to be used in sport science research. However, given the complex nature of nonlinear analysis methods, research methodologies cannot be based on similar studies. Therefore, a best practice and step-by-step guide on calculating two common measures, the largest Lyapunov exponent and entropy, was created. Nonlinear analysis methods were then applied to investigate treadmill running technique and its variability pre/post-game for the top thirty-five under 20-year-old Australian male basketball athletes. Three-dimensional lower limb kinematics during five minutes of treadmill running where the final two minutes were collected to compare technique and movement variability pre/post-game. To demonstrate the differences between traditional movement analysis approaches and nonlinear analysis, movement variability was assessed using linear (mean and standard deviation) and nonlinear (Lyapunov exponent and sample entropy) measures to determine the magnitude, complexity, and predictability of variability, respectively. The coordination patterns and variability of these coordination patterns were observed by calculating the coupling angles of adjacent segments (foot-shank and shank-thigh segments) using a modified vector coding technique. Although traditional movement analysis showed minimal changes in running technique, elite youth basketball athletes produced a dynamic system that is complex at the ankle, adaptable at the knee, and adaptable and partially predictable at the hip. However, coordination analysis showed more changes in running technique compared to nonlinear analysis, where during early stance and mid-swing, athletes utilised anti-phase coordination patterns for the foot-shank and shank-thigh couples in the frontal and transverse planes after game play. In addition, the increased coupling angle variability suggest that during early stance and terminal swing for both foot-shank and shank-thigh couples, instability in the phase transition leads to an increased risk of injury after game play. For sports scientists, the results of this thesis suggested that in a sporting context, such as examining the effect of game play explored in this thesis, assessing for changes in nonlinear variability and coordination of movement patterns may be a more comprehensive evaluation of injury risk and running technique than the use of traditional biomechanical analysis.
- Subject
- nonlinear dynamics; coordination; dynamical systems theory; athletes
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1511406
- Identifier
- uon:56490
- Rights
- Copyright 2024 Samantha Birse
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 4 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 497 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |