Shoji Konda

Scapular Rotation to Attain the Peak Shoulder External Rotation in Tennis Serve

PURPOSE The purposes of this study were (a) to describe the detailed movements of the shoulder complex during the cocking phase in tennis serve and (b) to determine the contribution of the scapular rotation to the peak shoulder external rotation attained at the end of the cocking phase. METHOD Twenty tennis players performed flat tennis serves with the maximum effort, and three-dimensional kinematic data of the thorax, scapula, and humerus of the dominant side were recorded by an electromagnetic tracking device (Liberty; Polhemus) at 240 Hz. The humeral rotation with respect to the thorax (named as the resultant shoulder rotation) was decomposed into the scapular rotation with respect to the thorax and the humeral rotation with respect to the scapula (named as the glenohumeral rotation). The scapular rotation that contributed to attain the peak resultant shoulder external rotation was quantitatively determined, and the ratio of the glenohumeral external rotation to the scapular rotation that contributed to attain the peak resultant shoulder external rotation was computed to represent the scapulohumeral rhythm for shoulder external rotation. RESULTS Of the three components of scapular rotations, the scapular posterior tilt was the primary component that contributed to the attainment of the peak resultant shoulder external rotation. The scapulohumeral rhythm for shoulder external rotation (scapular posterior tilt-glenohumeral external rotation) exhibited during the backswing phase was 1:2.3. CONCLUSIONS The peak resultant shoulder external rotation was generated by a synchronized combination of the scapular posterior tilt and glenohumeral external rotation. A consistent pattern of three phases of the scapular posterior tilt and the glenohumeral external rotation that could be accurately modeled by three linear regressions was observed in preparation for the peak shoulder external rotation in tennis serve.

Directional bias of soft-tissue artifacts on the acromion during recording of 3D scapular kinematics

Scapular kinematics during sports performances can be recorded using skin-mounted trackers attached to the skin overlying the acromion for continuous data collection without restricting natural motions of the subject relative to medical imaging analyses limiting its use for wide-range or high-speed motions. This study aimed to describe the existence of a directional bias in the translational and rotational errors of skin-mounted trackers using a 3D magnetic resonance imaging (3D-MRI) protocol. 3D-MRI scans of the healthy right shoulders of 19 males were acquired in 12 arm positions. The relative transformation of the scapular configuration determined to be the measurement error, as recorded by the configuration of the small cuboid imitating a skin-mounted tracker relative to the actual scapular configuration measured by the voxel-based registration. These measurement errors were expressed with either positive or negative values to describe the bias. Overall translational errors in the lateral, anterior, and superior directions were 3.7 ± 8.4 mm, 9.5 ± 6.4 mm, and 6.2 ± 4.6 mm, respectively. Overall rotational errors in protraction, upward rotation, and posterior tilt were 7.8 ± 8.4°, 0.2 ± 7.4°, and - 4.0 ± 7.5°, respectively. The skin-mounted tracker displayed a high probability of displacement in antero-superior (93% and 91%) directions and rotates in a protracting manner (82%) relative to the position of the underlying bone with the gradual nature of its change. The existence of the directional bias with its gradual change suggests a statistical predictability in measurement errors, which can be used to predict accurate scapular translation and rotation.

A video-based method for estimating three-dimensional scapular rotation

INTRODUCTION The shoulder girdle is a complex structure, consisting of three bones and three anatomical joints. The movements of such a complex shoulder girdle have been measured by means of MRI, X-ray, ectromagnetic sensor or surgical methods. In these studies, the movements of multiple bones and joints are measured and described in detail, having demonstrated that the movement patterns of the scapulothoracic and glenohumeral joints are consistent across healthy individuals [1]. This consistent pattern of joint movements are named the scapulohumeral rhythm, which, to date, describe primarily the relation between the joint movements in one plane (scapular upward rotation and humeral elevation). The similar relations in other planes are also expected to exist. In the present study, a convenient, video-based method was developed to determine the scapulothoracic rhythm in three-dimension and to estimate the scapular rotation for given humeral rotation measured in dynamic activities.