The Biomechanics of the Volleyball Spike / Attack Sport Biomechanics

The following biomechanics project was designed to be a review of literature related to the most important skill in volleyball, the overhead spike, or attack. The literature has been reviewed and select articles dealing with the various components of the overhead spike are presented as exemplary and representative of the kids of biomechanical analyses that are available. Though not exhaustive in scope, the literature reviewed gives a significant scope for the purposes of this assignment. The first two articles deal with an overview, or what I am calling SECTION 1: Overall Attack Perspective. The first by Li-Fang and Gin-Chang is the broadest representation compiled in this project. They deal with the approach jump and the back swing action of the arms, the turn swing which involves hip and trunk rotation, and the forward swing which involves shoulder and elbow rotation. The first article also provides excellent visual illustrations of the points they are making with regard to range of motion. The second article I have used to represent an overview of the offensive volleyball attack or spike is the research article by Bittencourt, which address the overall relationship between trunk rotation and shoulder rotation in the volleyball attack. The final article in the overview section is a comparison of arm swing mechanics by Huang.