Exploring Biomechanics and Performance: Insights from the SpeedSig Approach
In this blog, we delve into a critical topic in sports performance—how advanced analysis and nuanced understanding of biomechanics can help athletes, especially those nearing the end of their careers, overcome challenges and achieve their goals. This discussion is inspired by recent consulting experiences in soccer and rugby league, where high-calibre athletes faced unique hurdles.
Understanding Biomechanical Strategies and Tactics
In biomechanics, an athlete’s strategy represents their foundational motor control pattern aimed at achieving a desired outcome, such as maximum speed, repeat speed, or sustained sub-maximal speed. Examples of biomechanical strategies include the generation of vertical and horizontal forces, and the modulation of step frequency and length. Tactics, on the other hand, refer to specific adjustments to these strategies in response to evolving conditions, with the ultimate goal of maintaining strategic objectives. An example of this would be an athlete who typically has a normal ground contact time (GCT) at a given speed, but in the presence of excessive fatigue may lengthen GCT by increasing step length to accommodate to fatigued calves.
This distinction is critical when evaluating performance and diagnosing challenges in elite athletes. Let’s explore how these concepts applied to two seasoned professionals.
Case Studies: High-Caliber Athletes Facing Unique Biomechanical Challenges
Case 1: Soccer Player with a History of Mixed Injuries
A male soccer player nearing the twilight of their career presented a complex injury history, including chronic knee issues, quad strains, multiple bilateral groin strains, and hamstring injuries. Despite their history, this athlete had competed at the highest levels, including a World Cup. However, his inability to sustain training without recurrent injuries was a growing concern for his club.
Analysis revealed that the player had developed a compensatory movement pattern—a strategy—to manage these physical limitations. This pattern, very fast GCT and vertical force at slow speeds, while effective in the past, now required excessive energy at sub-maximal speeds and was likely contributing to recurring injuries.
Concept: the underlying concept is that excessively vertically orientated running at slow speeds creates a fatigue in muscle groups that would typically be more dominant at speed > 7m/s as described previously 1. Once higher speeds are required the body doesn’t have a “next gear” to shift to, further increasing demand on fatigued muscles and exposing them injury risk.
The data highlighted significant stiffness in ground contact mechanics, particularly at lower speeds (around 6 m/s). Interestingly, as speed increased to approximately 8.5 m/s, the athlete’s biomechanics began to normalize, a phenomenon we call a "convergent pattern." However, sustaining this pattern under the workload of training and competition was proving increasingly unsustainable for the individual.
Case 2: Rugby League Athlete with Chronic Asymmetries
In the second case, a rugby league athlete with multiple hamstring injuries on one side of the body exhibited a striking asymmetry in movement patterns. The analysis showed that while their injured limb appeared functional, the opposite, “healthy” limb displayed significant compensations, including excessive stiffness.
Upon further investigation, the “healthy” limb was revealed to have an old ankle injury and active patellar tendinopathy. This information shifted the narrative: the original ankle injury had likely caused a cascade of compensatory mechanisms, leading to patella issues and an over-reliance on the contralateral limb for propulsion (the side with noted repeat hamstring injuries).
The athlete’s movement strategy mirrored an early biomechanical model where one leg acts as a “vault” while the other provides propulsion. However, this vaulting strategy was now contributing to recurring injuries and inefficiencies.
The Role of SpeedSig in Bridging the Gap
Traditional monitoring methods—such as isometric contractions, force plate tasks, and GPS tracking—often fall short of providing actionable insights in situations like those noted. While these methods can measure specific performance metrics, they struggle to capture the dynamic, on-field biomechanical patterns and the individualized compensatory mechanisms that influence injury risks and performance. Metrics from linear speed tests or force plate analysis can infer readiness but rarely capture the complexity of on-field movement patterns.
SpeedSig addresses these gaps by offering:
Detailed Biomechanical Analysis: SpeedSig examines movement strategies at different speeds, highlighting patterns such as convergence or asymmetry that are critical to understanding an athlete’s performance.
Integrated Insights: By combining injury history, recovery capacity, and age-related changes, SpeedSig enables a holistic view of the athlete.
Practical Applications: Insights from SpeedSig inform tactical adjustments—like modifying training loads or refining movement strategies—to enhance performance and reduce injury risk.
Tactical Adjustments for Sustainability
For both athletes, the key takeaway was the need for tactical adjustments rather than wholesale changes to their strategies. In the soccer player’s case, reducing training volume and focusing on recovery allowed them to maximize on-field performance. For the rugby league athlete, targeted interventions to address asymmetries and reduce overloading on the compensating limb were essential.
The Path Forward: Embracing Innovation in Sports Performance
Performance professionals must look beyond traditional metrics such as GPS, isometric contractions, and force plate data, which primarily measure isolated physical outputs, and embrace new technologies that address the complexity of dynamic on-field performance and compensatory mechanisms. As indicated by the case studies, methodologies leveraging tools like SpeedSig or MRI-derived quantification of individual muscle mass exemplify advances addressing traditional metrics' limitations. By enabling a deeper understanding of athletes' biomechanics and compensatory patterns, these innovations are critical for addressing performance barriers and crafting individualized interventions effectively. As Colin Powell once suggested, we need to “look around the corner” for what’s next—identifying emerging trends and opportunities for improvement.
The lessons from SpeedSig are clear: nuanced, individualized analysis is essential for pushing the boundaries of athletic performance. By integrating advanced biomechanics with a strategic and tactical approach, we can help athletes not only sustain but elevate their performance, even in the face of mounting challenges.
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