THE SURFACE EMG ACTIVITY OF THE UPPER LIMB MUSCLES OF BADMINTON FOREHAND AND BACKHAND SMASHES

The purpose of this study was to analyze the surface EMG activity of the upper limb muscles of Taiwan elite badminton players when they were performing the forehand and the backhand smashes. We used two digital video cameras to obtain the 3D kinematics data of the shuttlecock, and measured the surface EMG signals of seven upper limb muscles. The results showed that there were significant differences between forehand and backhand smashes in the following variables: the initial shuttle velocity, the contact height, the initial flight angle of the shuttle, the sequence of the surface EMG activities of the upper limbs and the mean IEMG amplitude in the selected muscles. The reason why the forehand smash was faster than the backhand smash might be because the up swing displacement and up swing racket velocity of the forehand smash was greater than that of the backhand smash.