FRACTAL DIMENSION AND HUMAN AQUATIC LOCOMOTION

##article.authors##

  • Tiago M Barbosa
  • Jorge E Morais
  • Mário J Costa
  • Pedro Morouço
  • John Tan

##semicolon##

swimming##common.commaListSeparator## nonlinear parameters##common.commaListSeparator## Higuchi's method##common.commaListSeparator## speed fluctuation

##article.abstract##

The aim was to investigate the fractal properties of human swimming and analyze its relationship with swimming kinematics. Eighty-two male swimmers from the local level up to World-ranked athletes undertook a set of 3x25m maximal trials at Front-Crawl. Fractal dimension (D) was calculated from the speed-time series collected with a speedo-meter. It was also calculated the speed fluctuation as an energy cost estimator. Human swimming showed fractal properties (1?D?2). The relationship between D and dv was very high analyzed in absolute values (R2=0.88; s=0.18; p<0.001) and Z-scores (R2=0.88; s=0.34; p<0.001). It can be concluded that human swimming shows fractal characteristics, though with lower values than gait. Energy cost of swimming increases with the complexity of the swimming patterns.

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##submissions.published##

2016-05-05

##issue.issue##

33 International Conference of Biomechanics in Sports (2015)

##section.section##

Coaching and Sports Activities

##submission.license##

Authors can retain copyright, while granting the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports (ISBS) the right of first publication.