Analysis of the Contact Area for Three Types of Upper Limb Strikes

Performance in strike combat sports is mostly evaluated through the values of the net force, acceleration, or speed to improve efficient training procedures and/or to assess the injury. There are limited data on the upper limb striking area, which can be a useful variable for contact pressure assessment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the contact area of the upper limb in three different strike technique positions. A total of 38 men and 38 women (n = 76, 27.3 +/- 8.5 years of age, 73.9 +/- 13.8 kg of body weight, 173.3 +/- 8.4 cm of body height) performed a static simulation of punch with a fist, palm strike, and elbow strike, where three segments of the right upper limb were scanned. The analysis of 684 images showed a correlation (r = 0.634) between weight and punch technique position in men and significant differences in elbow strike (p < 0.001) and palm strike (p < 0.0001) between women and men. In both groups, the palm demonstrated the largest area and the elbow the smallest one. These data may be used to evaluate strike contact pressure in future studies in forensic biomechanics and assessment of injury in combat sports and self-defense.