Effects of a Vertical Bar and Backrest on Trunk Movement in Seated Throwing Events

This study aimed to clarify kinematics characteristics that result when seated athletes engaged in the shot put and javelin throws with or without a vertical bar and backrest. Three male seated throwers with spinal cord injury participated in this study. In our experiments, the participants performed shot put and javelin throwing under the following four conditions: throwing using both the backrest and vertical bar (BVT), using only the backrest (BT), using only the vertical bar (VT), and without using neither the backrest nor the vertical bar (NT). For all conditions, the participants threw the shot and javelin as far as possible along the throwing vector. Prior to the experiment, a total of 22 reflection markers were affixed on the bodies of the participants, shot and javelin. During throwing motions, these reflectors were captured at 250 Hz by using a 10-camera motion capture system. The following results obtained in this study: 1) F55 athlete needs to use a backrest and vertical bar in the javelin throw and shot put. 2) both a backrest and vertical bar would not be necessary for javelin throw in the F57 athlete. 3) both a backrest and vertical bar would be desirable to use a backrest and vertical bar for shot put in the F57 athlete.