Taekwondo Biomechanics: Intersegmental Joint Coordination and Hopping Effect

The first purpose of the study was to investigate biomechanical characteristics of eight different Taekwondo kicks and to categorize them by the newly defined index of coordination of hip and knee joint motions. The second purpose was to investigate the effect of the rhythmic hop (habitually performed by athletes in Taekwondo sparring) in order to find whether rhythmic hop improves kicking performance. Twelve male elite Taekwondo athletes (age: 20.48.4 years, mass: 71.98.4 kg, and height: 1.800.04 m) participated in this study and performed eight different Taekwondo kicks as fast as possible when they received an external signal. Eight different kicks were the front kick (FR), roundhouse kick (RH), side kick (SD), pushing kick (PU), back kick (BA), turning-back kick (TB), thrashing kick (TH), and downward kick (DW). The results of the index of interjoint coordination (IIC), classified eight kicks into throw-like kicks (FR, RH, and PU), push-like kicks (SD and BA), and pushthrow continuum (BA, HK and DW). Throw-like kicks showed the fastest response time and highest kicking velocity and push-throw continuum revealed the highest momentum of the kicking leg at the impact. The rhythmic hops did not affect the response times but improved the kicking velocities of both RH and BA significantly.