Tennis-Badminton Connection-Early Research on Pronation & Internal Shoulder Rotation

[Chas Tennis]

FYI

I recently got a copy of Badminton, 4th edition, (1996) by James Poole and Jon Poole.

Poole's work was referred to in an earlier reply by SystemicAnomaly.

Poole referred to work by David Waddell and Barbara Gowitzke using high speed cameras to analyze badminton smashes.

[Badminton serves are not overhead. In badminton, the serve must be hit with the racket head below the waist. However, forehand "smashes" and "clears" are very commonly used and these correspond closely to the tennis serve.]
Update 12/31/2013 - description and video of badminton smash.
http://badmintondoubles.hubpages.com/hub/Badminton-Smash-How-to-Play-the-Shot

I found these interesting conference presentations that bear on pronation, internal shoulder rotation and tennis. Waddell & Gowitze used high speed film cameras to analyze strokes.

1) Myths and Realities in Badminton and Tennis (1985). D. Waddell & B. Gowitzke
https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/1441

The information is presented by stating a myth and then - in parenthesis - showing the findings of Waddell and Gowitzke

Here's the one that bears on pronation and internal shoulder rotation on the serve

"7. A major source of power is gained from the "wrist snap". (The popular concept of "wrist snap" is found in most badminton and tennis instruction manuals and refers to the method in which a player gains additional power in a forehand clear or smash or in (?, copy not legible) tennis "cannonball-type tennis serve. A recognition of what is truly happening anatomically (found in only a few references) is that the forearm is turning and, equally important, the upper arm is turning. The biomechanical terms for these actions in forehand strokes are pronation in the radio-ulnar joints and medial rotation in the shoulder joint. ................)"

[ "medial rotation of the shoulder joint" in some countries is the same as internal shoulder rotation]

In conference-
3rd International Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports (1985)
https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/issue/view/ISBS1985

Summary in 2000 of the badminton research of Waddell and Gowitzke
2) BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO BADMINTON POWER STROKES
https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/2233

In conference-
18th International Symposium on Biomechanics and Sports (2000)
https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/issue/view/ISBS2000

In the late '80s, I can clearly remember reading of pronation, which I correctly interpreted as an elbow-forearm rotation, and attempting to improve my serve by practicing it. I wish that I had known............

Jim McLennan references Waddell & Gowitzke
http://www.essentialtennisinstruction.com/bts/coursework/badminton.html

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Missed this when you posted it back in July.

Excellent post. Good job on digging up this stuff. I believe that Dr. James Poole first wrote about this stuff back in the 1960s for a college thesis. I recall seeing that paper on the interweb back in the 1990s but I suspect it is no longer accessible. At that time, Poole wrote primarily about forearm pronation and the mistaken over-emphasis of the wrist (flexion).

Poole was a world-class badminton player who played internationally primarily in the 1950s thru the early 1970s. I believe that he was also very competent in tennis, basketball and baseball and was well acquainted with the mechanics of all these sports.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Missed this when you posted it back in July.

Excellent post. Good job on digging up this stuff. I believe that Dr. James Poole first wrote about this stuff back in the 1960s for a college thesis, I believe. I recall seeing that paper on the interweb back in the 1990s but I suspect it is no longer accessible. At that time, Poole wrote primarily about forearm pronation and the mistaken over-emphasis of the wrist (flexion).

Poole was a world-class badminton player who played internationally primarily in the 1950s thru the early 1970s. I believe that he was also very compentant in tennis, basketball and baseball and was well aqauinted with the mechanics of all these sports.

I thought that you would be interested. Thanks a lot for posting the information on Poole and spelling out what it was about.

 

[Dimcorner]

Awesome post

I think badminton has helped me A LOT in generating serve and overhead power. I'm not a big guy (5' 7" 145lbs) and have only played for just over 1 year but I can hit about a 100-108mph serve all day (at least the radar gun at the last tournament measured it that way). It's such a relaxed motion for me that I don't feel fatigued much hitting 2 baskets worth of balls before a group class.

This slow motion video is very good at showing the wrist motion on a jump smash and it is very similar to how I take swings at overheads and serves.

http://youtu.be/eH6qFJoySf8?t=1m22s

He holds the record for fastest smash in a tournament @ 332kph (206mph). Sure it slows down but try to fish that up when you are standing about 18 feet away without it hitting you or the ground.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Bruce Elliott presentation

https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/viewFile/3043/2851

 

[Chas Tennis]

Update - Highest badminton velocity. Note the badminton smash is similar in some ways to the tennis serve in technique, both use internal shoulder rotation.

493 Km/hr = 306 MPH

 

[Chas Tennis]

Google Scholar

scholar.google.com

link shows abstract and link for pdf

 

[Chas Tennis]

Reference in OP.​

​

See identification of ISR in the tennis serve.​

​

MYTHS AND REALITIES IN BADMINTON AND TENNIS STROKES​

Authors​

• Barbara A. Gowitzke
• David B. Waddell

Abstract​

Biomechanical research with application to sport skills is varied and usually based on the collection Of sport skill data in some form. The research conducted by Gowitzke and Waddell on the power strokes of badminton and tennis was based on data collected from high-speed bi-plane cinematography of some of Canada's top-ranked players.