Tilted Axes, Spirals, and Dynamic Balance

[Brychanus]

She's only about an hour away from me, let's get her started

 

[horststorch]

Hi, thank you for explaining this! I have no athletic background and no understanding of biomechanics but I tried to understand the initial post: The N-S backward tilt angle is due to the need of balancing in order to not fall over to the North or fall back to the South which would cost power, whereas the E-W tilt has got to do with athletic posture. Is that correct?

 

[Brychanus]

Hi, thank you for explaining this! I have no athletic background and no understanding of biomechanics but I tried to understand the initial post: The N-S backward tilt angle is due to the need of balancing in order to not fall over to the North or fall back to the South which would cost power, whereas the E-W tilt has got to do with athletic posture. Is that correct?

I will always be quick to caveat that I have no formal training in biomechanics, so these are concepts mostly cobbled together from the applied coaching space. That is not to say that the concepts are "wrong" - just that they have not been subjected to the level of scrutiny I require in my day job. With that caveat:

I would say that N-S and E-W are both dimensions are part of locomotion, including athletic motion and posture.

The N-S angle occurs in motions as small as normal walking, in dance, and all the way through elite athletic motions in general. Adults might struggle more with the N-S dimension since the size of the motion is larger than people who didn't do things like skiing, extreme skating stops, or similar motions in other contexts, and those players tend to rotate around a vertical axis instead. Deficient N-S balance is one of the most common problems in backhand form. I haven't spent time trying to formally count, but it's so predictable to me at this point that I assume someone starting in adulthood will have this problem to some degree. Some people never seem able to solve it - lots of motor learning and brain reasons that this is not surprising.

I would suggest we don't know nearly enough about exact implications for either power or safety, but if the concept is correct, it is probably related to both.

 

[horststorch]

I will always be quick to caveat that I have no formal training in biomechanics, so these are concepts mostly cobbled together from the applied coaching space. That is not to say that the concepts are "wrong" - just that they have not been subjected to the level of scrutiny I require in my day job. With that caveat:

I would say that N-S and E-W are both dimensions are part of locomotion, including athletic motion and posture.

The N-S angle occurs in motions as small as normal walking, in dance, and all the way through elite athletic motions in general. Adults might struggle more with the N-S dimension since the size of the motion is larger than people who didn't do things like skiing, extreme skating stops, or similar motions in other contexts, and those players tend to rotate around a vertical axis instead. Deficient N-S balance is one of the most common problems in backhand form. I haven't spent time trying to formally count, but it's so predictable to me at this point that I assume someone starting in adulthood will have this problem to some degree. Some people never seem able to solve it - lots of motor learning and brain reasons that this is not surprising.

I would suggest we don't know nearly enough about exact implications for either power or safety, but if the concept is correct, it is probably related to both.

that's helpful! Thank you!