A Comparison of Head-Hand Coordination Patterns during Squash Forehand Strokes in Expert and Less-Skilled Squash Players

Objective: To compare head and hand movement patterns during squash forehand motions between experts and less-skilled squash players. Method: Four experts and four less-skilled squash players participated in this study. They performed squash forehand swings and a VICON motion analysis system was used to obtain displacement and velocity data of the head and right hand during the movement. Mann-Whitney U-tests were performed to compare head and hand range of motion and peak velocity, and cross-correlation was performed to analyze the head-hand coordination pattern between groups in three movement directions. Results: In terms of head and hand kinematic data, experts had greater head range of motion during down swings than less-skilled squash players. Experts seemed to reach peak hand velocity at impact by reaching peak head velocity followed by hand peak velocity within a given temporal sequence. In terms of head-hand coordination patterns, both groups revealed high positive correlations in the medial-lateral direction, indicating a dominant allocentric coordination pattern. However, experts had uncoupled coordination patterns in the vertical direction and less-skilled squash players had high positive correlations. These results indicate that the head-hand movement pattern likely an important factor squash forehand movement. Conclusion: Analysis of head and hand movement patterns could be a key variable in squash training to reach expert-level performance.