• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.425-433
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• 2014

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of CAD (Computer Aided Design) based alpine mono-ski bucket design on disabled ski athletes' kinematic characteristics. Two national team ski athletes with LW11 disabilities (Locomotion Winter Classification) category for sit ski participated in both pre and post experiment. Both of the subjects performed 3 trials of carved turn on a ski slope under two conditions. Where, subject "A" performed pre experiment with personal bucket and post experiment with the newly developed CAD based bucket whereas, Subject "B" as control subject performed both pre and post experiment with his personal bucket. For the experiment, 24 Infrared cameras were positioned on the ski slope which covered the path of the ski turn. Also, motion capture suit with reflective markers were worn by both subjects. In the result, decrement in medial/lateral displacement of COM, anterior/posterior displacement of COM, flexion/extension angle of trunk as well as velocity losing rate of COM was observed in subject "A" when using the newly developed CAD based bucket. In contrast, no larger effect on performance was observed when using personal buckets. In conclusion, the findings obtained from the study indicated effectiveness of newly developed CAD based bucket by reducing excessive movement of hip and trunk which is an important factor to perform an effective turn.