A biomechanical analysis of ballet dancers on pointe

Author

Humm, J.R. ; Harris, G.F. ; Raasch, W.G. ; Black, K.P. ; Schmitz, J.M. ; Clavette, K.M. ; Park, T.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Biomed. Eng., Marquette Univ., Milwaukee, WI, USA

fYear

1994

Firstpage

374

Abstract

Eight dancers from the Milwaukee Ballet Dance Company were examined using current human motion analysis techniques to study the biomechanics of motion during the pointe maneuver. In this maneuver the dancer lifts the heel completely off the floor until the weight is fully supported by the toes. A five-camera VICON (Oxford, UK) system with two AMTI (Newton, MA) forceplates and a ten channel EMG processor was used to record 3-D motion, muscular activity, and ground reaction force data. Preliminary results suggest similarities in motion and EMG patterns among the dancers despite variances in height, weight, and level of proficiency

Keywords

biomechanics; electromyography; position measurement; sport; 3-D motion; AMTI forceplates; Milwaukee Ballet Dance Company; ballet dancers; biomechanical analysis; five-camera VICON; ground reaction force data; heel; height; human motion analysis techniques; motion; muscular activity; pointe maneuver; proficiency level; ten channel EMG processor; toes; weight; Biomechanics; Cameras; Electrodes; Electromyography; Extremities; Humans; Injuries; Knee; Motion analysis; Muscles; Orthopedic surgery;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1994. Engineering Advances: New Opportunities for Biomedical Engineers. Proceedings of the 16th Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2050-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.1994.411997

Filename

411997