A COMPARATIVE THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF BREATHING AND NON-BREATHING IN FRONT-CRAWL SWIMMING

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Only a few studies have examined the effects of breathing in the kinematics of front crawl swimming (e.g. Payton et al., 1999). Important limitations of previous studies were that they were conducted (totally or partly) with the use of two-dimensional (2D) analysis techniques, and that body roll was calculated based on the assumption that the trunk moves as a rigid part. However, Cappaert et al. (1995) reported not only different range of motions but also different timing of shoulder and hip roll. This indicated that the rigid trunk assumption is not tenable. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of breathing on the kinematics of the whole body centre of mass (CM) and roll of the shoulders and hips using three-dimensional (3D) analysis methods applied to a full body model.