BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effect of the menstrual cycle on the coordination variability of the lower-limb joints during the taekwondo roundhouse kick in professional athletes. METHODS: Twenty professional taekwondo female athletes voluntarily participated in the study. The participants visited a laboratory thrice during their menstrual cycles' follicular, ovulation, and luteal phases. The lower-extremity kinematic data were collected during the roundhouse kick. Range of motion (ROM) and coordination variability of the lower-extremity joints in sagittal plane were calculated and compared for different menstrual cycles. FINDINGS: The results did not show significant differences in the ROM of the joints for the different menstrual cycles. Moreover, the results of a vector analysis using the repeated measures ANOVA did not show significant differences in joint coordination patterns and variability for different menstrual cycles. However, there were fluctuations in the coordination variability during the ovulation phase in the hip-ankle coupling, but this was not statistically significant. INTERPRETATION: The results suggest that female taekwondo players must be cautious of training during the ovulation phases of their menstrual cycles. However, more research is needed to better understand the effect of menstrual cycle on the coordination patterns of joints and segments.

• Keywords
• Coordination variability, Menstrual cycle, Roundhouse kick, Taekwondo,
• MeSH
• Biomechanical Phenomena MeSH
• Martial Arts * physiology   MeSH
• Lower Extremity * physiology   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Ankle Joint * physiology   MeSH
• Knee Joint * physiology   MeSH
• Hip Joint * physiology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Menstrual Cycle * physiology   MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Range of Motion, Articular * physiology   MeSH
• Athletes MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of rowing stroke rates on lower extremity intra-joint coordination variability in professional rowers. Fifteen experienced young rowers volunteered to participate in this study. Kinematic data were recorded at different rowing speeds with seven Vicon cameras. The continuous relative phase (CRP) and CRP variability (CRPV) were used to calculate joint coordination and coordination variability, respectively, for the hip, knee, and ankle in the sagittal and horizontal planes, and a comparison was made among different rowing stroke rates. A vector analysis repeated measure ANOVA using statistical parametric mapping revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the hip-ankle, hip-knee, and knee-ankle CRPs for rowing at different stroke rates. Moreover, there was higher CRPV in the mid-drive and mid-recovery phases and less variability in the transition from the drive phase to the recovery phase. The results demonstrate the importance of knee joint in rowing tasks in experienced rowers during submaximal rowing stroke rate and the shift of movement to the hip at higher rowing stroke rate. Moreover, there was a smaller variability during drive-to-recovery transition, which may suggests an increased risk for overuse injuries.

• MeSH
• Biomechanical Phenomena MeSH
• Lower Extremity MeSH
• Knee MeSH
• Ankle MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Sports * MeSH
• Water Sports * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH