What is a biomechanical analysis?
Biomechanical Analysis
Biomechanical analysis is the process of examining how the body moves which can play a crucial role in preventing injury and optimizing sports performance. Analysis can be performed using specialized equipment such as force plates, treadmills, and/or recording devices or visually via standardized movement patterns known as functional movement screens (FMS), which aim to identify imbalances in mobility and stability that may portend injury and/or inhibit performance. As an example, a 2010 study by Chorba et al found that female collegiate athletes scoring less than 14 on the FMS™ were at a four-fold increased risk of lower extremity injury during that season.
Typically, these assessments are not sport-specific and their ability to predict injury risk is variable based on experience with the screening tool and sport (Busch et al 2017, Paquette et al 2018, Chalmers et al 2017, Marques et al 2017, Walbright et al 2017). FMS™ is most commonly applied to a variety of sports, but efforts have been made to create sport-specific screens, such as GymSafe for gymnasts and the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Screen for golfers.
Separately, many sport-specific injury prevention programs have been put forth by various experts in their respective fields such as the FIFA 11 Plus for soccer and the modified Yokahama Baseball-9 (mYKB-9), The Thrower’s Ten or the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma (NISMAT) Arm Care program for baseball to name a few (Mullaney 2021, Sadigursky 2017, Kinder et al 2022). As an example, the FIFA 11 Plus has been demonstrated to decrease the risk of injury by 30-70% in soccer and football players as well as significant improvements in multiple aspects of motor and neuromuscular performance (Silvers-Granelli 2017, Sadigursky 2017, Barengo 2014) Recent studies have demonstrated care must be taken when applying these as improper timing of their use can temporarily negatively impact performance (Asgari 2023).
Understanding biomechanical analysis in the context of the patient’s sport and age is extremely important as the vast majority of sports-related injuries are “overuse” injuries, often related to rapid increases in intensity, duration, and frequency of exercise. Each sport has its own unique patterns of injury and thus analysis should be specialized to each sport or pattern of movement (Pfeifer 2019). In the pediatric population, patterns of injury are also unique in that they have open growth plates, thus they experience certain types of injury not seen in adults and often go misdiagnosed by clinicians untrained in pediatrics sports medicine.
At TSARO, the goal at every consultation is not only to accurately diagnose and treat the injury, but identify the biomechanical risk factors that may have contributed to it and to other potential injuries in the future. Our multi-disciplinary network utilizes a combination of technology and functional movement screens and are experienced in sport-specific biomechanical movement analysis in adult populations and all major sports (soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, wrestling, swimming, and distance running) as well as having specialized training in pediatrics populations and performance-arts athletes (gymnastics, cheerleaders, dancers, and figure skaters).
References:
Busch AM, Clifton DR, Onate JA, Ramsey VK, Cromartie F. Relationship of Preseason Movement Screens With Overuse Symptoms in Collegiate Baseball Players. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2017;12(6):960-966.
Paquette MR, Peel SA, Smith RE, Temme M, Dwyer JN. The impact of different cross-training modalities on performance and injury-related variables in high school cross country runners. J Strength Cond Res. 2018;32(6):1745-1753. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000002042
Chalmers S, Debenedictis TA, Zacharia A, et al. Asymmetry during Functional Movement Screening and injury risk in junior football players: A replication study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2017;28(3):1281-1287. doi:10.1111/sms.13021
Marques VB, Medeiros TM, de Souza Stigger F, Nakamura FY, Baroni BM. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) in elite young soccer players between 14 and 20 years: composite score, individual-test scores and asymmetries. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2017;12(6):977-985.
Chorba RS Chorba DJ Bouillon LE Overmyer CA Landis JA Use of a functional movement screening tool to determine injury risk in female collegiate athletes. N Am J Sports Phys Ther. 2010;5(2):47‐54.
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Walbright PD, Walbright N, Ojha H, Davenport T. Validity of functional screening tests to predict lost-time lower quarter injury in a cohort of female collegiate athletes. Int J Sports Phys Ther.2017;12(6):948-959.
Mullaney M, Nicholas S, Tyler T, Fukunaga T, McHugh M. Evidence Based Arm Care: The Throwers 10 Revisited. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2021 Dec 1;16(6):1379-1386. doi: 10.26603/001c.29900. PMID: 34909245; PMCID: PMC8637269.
Sadigursky D, Braid JA, De Lira DNL, Machado BAB, Carneiro RJF, Colavolpe PO. The FIFA 11+ injury prevention program for soccer players: a systematic review. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2017 Nov 28;9:18. doi: 10.1186/s13102-017-0083-z. PMID: 29209504; PMCID: PMC5704377.
Kinder, J., Herrera-Set, A., Wickizer, J., Mauriel, C., Spivak, R., Kuo, J., & Davenport, T. E. (2022). Reliability of the gymSAFE movement screen to predict health and biomechanical faults in female gymnasts. Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Practice, 34(3), 171–176.
Silvers-Granelli HJ, Bizzini M, Arundale A, Mandelbaum BR, Snyder-Mackler L. Does the FIFA 11+ Injury Prevention Program Reduce the Incidence of ACL Injury in Male Soccer Players? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2017 Oct;475(10):2447-2455. doi: 10.1007/s11999-017-5342-5. PMID: 28389864; PMCID: PMC5599387.
Barengo NC, Meneses-Echávez JF, Ramírez-Vélez R, Cohen DD, Tovar G, Bautista JE. The impact of the FIFA 11+ training program on injury prevention in football players: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014 Nov 19;11(11):11986-2000. doi: 10.3390/ijerph111111986. PMID: 25415209; PMCID: PMC4245655.
Asgari M, Nazari B, Bizzini M, Jaitner T. Effects of the FIFA 11+ program on performance, biomechanical measures, and physiological responses: A systematic review. J Sport Health Sci. 2023 Mar;12(2):226-235. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2022.05.001. Epub 2022 May 31. PMID: 35659964; PMCID: PMC10105015.
Pfeifer CE, Sacko RS, Ortaglia A, Monsma EV, Beattie PF, Goins J, Stodden DF. FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN™ in YOUTH SPORT PARTICIPANTS: EVALUATING the PROFICIENCY BARRIER for INJURY. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2019 Jun;14(3):436-444. doi: 10.26603/ijspt20190436. PMID: 31681502; PMCID: PMC6816300.
