A kinematic model for assessment of hip joint range-of-motion in fast sport movements using spreading angles

The work investigates the relationship between the leg spread and hip joint flexibility during kicking action of highly skilled martial artists. Vector-based spreading angles (VSAs), as a simplified way to assess kick execution patterns and movement ranges, are proposed. The first VSA measures the angle between the two femur vectors (i.e., upper leg spread), whereas the second describes the full-leg spread. The proposed measures were applied to 3D motion analysis performed on 33 participants at various skill levels who executed double side kicks and performed two static flexibility tests (hip joint flexion and abduction). Statistical analysis showed that the proposed parameters differentiate between skill levels. Both VSAs and VSA rate of change showed high Pearson correlation to the quality of execution (the average of 10 subjective kickboxing experts' evaluation scores) at critical instants of the kick execution , i.e., during the first leg elevation and kick (angles: rho > 0.8; p < 0.001). In addition, they significantly correlated to maximum static hip abduction at any instant (rho = 0.37-0.69; p < 0.05). The work established that both static and dynamic joint flexibility contribute to high-performance levels and could be used for initial selection and assessment of training effectiveness.