Study and Interpretation of Neuromuscular Patterns in Golf

Abstract

This chapter reports the golf swing EMG studies using amplitude, timing parameters and approaches to neuromuscular patterns recognition through EMG. The golf swing is a dynamic multi-joint movement. During each swing phase different activation levels occur, the combination of each muscle in amplitude provides an increased club head speed for the ball to travel to the hole. The timing when the maximum peak of each muscle occurs can be an important factor to understand the injury related mechanics and to prescribe strength programs. Most muscle studies describe their maximum activation level during the forward swing and acceleration phases, providing a controlled antigravity movement and acceleration of the club. The initial contraction time corresponds to the onset that can be used to describe the organization of the neuromuscular patterns during a task. This time parameter was used in golf to relate injuries to skilled or less skilled golfers. The way to retrieve this time parameter may be reached through new approaches but no gold standard algorithm definition has been found yet. To better understand the neuromuscular patterns new algorithms based on the dynamical systems theory are now used.