Abstract :Background: Lacrosse is a rapidly growing sport in the United States, especially in male, youth athletes, and these athletes do not always wear equipment that is the correct size and fit when competing. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in position and angular velocity kinematics in male youth lacrosse athletes performing three different lacrosse shots: overhand, sidearm, and underhand with and without self-selected protective equipment.
Methods: Ten male, youth lacrosse players (12.88 ± 1.95 years; 4.90 ± 1.45 years of experience, 163.55 ± 19.9 cm; 48.59 ± 15.82 kg) participated. Participants performed five of each lacrosse shot (overhand, sidearm, and underhand) with personal protective equipment and then five of each lacrosse shot without personal protective equipment. Three repeated measures ANOVA tests with an alpha level set a prioriat p < 0.05 were conducted.
Results: Results of the study revealed significant main effects of the Gear condition for the sidearm (F1,9 = 7.43, p = 0.023, ?2 = 0.452) and underhand shot (F1,9 = 8.93, p = 0.015, ?2 = 0.498). Posthoc testing revealed decreased trunk extension and lateral flexion position kinematics, as well as decreased trunk, hip, dominant humerus, dominant forearm, and dominant hand angular velocities when performing sidearm and underhand shots while wearing protective equipment.
Findings & Interpretations: These findings revealed that wearing self-selected protective equipment resulted in altered shot kinematics. Thus, future research should investigate the relationship of altered shot kinematics and injury potential in male youth lacrosse players.