Abstract
American Football is a major sport conducted in the United States. The games involve injuries that lower performance and lead to loss of training time. Most of the injuries go unnoticed and, in making cases, lead to long-term disabilities. Biomechanics helps to improve training and enhance the performance of players. Wearable devices help to monitor the movement of players and provide coaches with an opportunity to device mechanisms to improve performance. In measuring the movement of players, coaches offer techniques that help minimize injuries. Musculoskeletal injuries and head impacts are common in American Football and coaching, and a mechanism for prevention can be established through proper analysis. Wearable devices are applied in detecting players’ attention and allow coaches to provide practical training for the players. Proper nutrition plays an essential part in helping the recovery process from injuries and provides the body with a mechanism to cope with body movements during training and actual sport. Improving safety and performance through Shoulder-led tackling has been established as a safe tackling approach.
In the past decades, advancement in technology has resulted in the spread of wearable sensors to assess human motion. Biomechanics plays a significant role in improving training and enhancing performance through identifying deficiencies in techniques. American Football is one of the primary and popular sports conducted in the United States with high participation levels. American football players are frequently exposed to various injuries that, in most cases, lead to concussions subjecting them to diseases such as chronic trauma. Research indicates that participation in sports leads to approximately 3.8 million annual brain damages. Most of the injuries go unnoticed and, in making cases, lead to long-term disabilities. The early versions of American Football were characterized by brutality, chaos, mixed rules, and many players, which increased injury rates and deaths among players. Although there was augmented regulation and rules over preceding years, players’ conditions remained brutal with increased fractured and injured limbs and ribs. Innovations in technology have played a significant role in promoting technical and practical training. Technology helps detect players’ movements, assess performance, assess their attentiveness during practices, and provides valuable information to allow coaches to improve their training designs. Characterizing human movement during physical activity is an essential aspect of coaching and help assess their performance and assist them in developing effective techniques for efficient outcome. In measuring the movement of players, coaches offer strategies that help minimize injuries. Biomechanics can help improve the technical training of players by identifying exercises stimulating technical skill aspects. The paper focuses on the implication of American football biomechanics and determines their various applications in training and football coaching. Additionally, the paper will help understand how biomechanics influences the players’ attentiveness and establish approaches to improving safety and performance in American Football.
Role of wearable devices
Physical requirements for engaging in American Football have been effectively articulated. Conditions such as strength, power, and speed are essential for better performance in Football. The three conditions help differentiate between competent and freshmen. They also help understand the capabilities of players and their levels of competence. Wearable devices provide useful information on the movement of players and help minimize their injury risks. The application of technology in monitoring movements allows the coaches to choose the correct position for specific players based on their speed and power portrayed by the devices. Through biomechanical analysis, coaches position players effectively in areas that offer the perfect opportunity for success in a given play. Initially, 3D optoelectronics were applied in determining movements but were later established to have difficulties in their analysis, especially in outdoor environments. They failed to analyze the time taken by players and skills required for sensorization of the subject. The wearable devices allow the performance of a sporting activity in the outdoor environment. The devices allow noninvasive data to be acquired during movement. Under optimal conditions, sports demands individuals’ ability to develop high power output, endurance, and the ability to exercise at high intensity for a long time. The wearable sensors are therefore effective, efficient, and necessary in coaching to help understand areas of improvement and the players’ general performance.
The devices help in monitoring the cardiovascular and respiratory response. Movements of players require the control and activation of muscles, and therefore cardiovascular and respiratory systems help to maintain the movement for a prolonged time. The intensity of the training and the duration plays a significant role in maintaining body movements. Removing the training stimulus minimizes efficiency, and the gained capacity is lost. Application of the devices is essential in American Football to allow coaches to understand the needs of their players. Additionally, their application allows coaches and athletes to gain information about motion range and acceleration. The information and data presented by the wearable sensors offer key performance results and outcomes for sports and offer details on kinematics, kinetics, and electromyography data (Taborri et al., 2020). Sensors allow assessment of players’ performance and provide valuable knowledge to coaches and trainers. Wearable devices offer an avenue of monitoring athletes in a natural spot environment to offer real-time feedback. Since the devices are small, light, and wireless, they permit the whole movement while participating in sports. This provides an opportunity for the players to be observed in their natural training environment outside the confines of a laboratory. Training in sports aims at promoting changes in the structure and functions of the body muscles and tissues through selective breakdown and synthesis in response to the training stimulus. Through the obtained data, coaches in America Football can help players make changes in their movements and improve their performance as they lower their potential for accidents.
Musculoskeletal injury
America Football involves frequent and violent Impacts that lead to a high rate of injuries. Forces in the game can be of an extensive magnitude and applied to different parts of the player’s body. The exemplar injuries include contusion, strain, sprains fractures, knee injury, hip injury, shoulder complex pathologies, and cervical spinal trauma. Musculoskeletal injury is one of the significant impacts players face in their sporting activity (Whiting, 2015). The exemplar injuries include contusion, strain, sprains fractures, knee injury, hip injury, shoulder complex pathologies, and cervical spinal trauma. Mechanical energy serves as the primary cause of this injury. In America Football, collisions are inevitable, leading to injuries. Injuries occur when energy transfer between bodies is higher than the ability of the tissues to tolerate the force. In most cases, players wear protective gear such as helmets and pads to help absorb the impacts of collisions. Different body muscles have different abilities to withstand strain leading to some becoming more susceptible than others. Inertial sensors play a vital role in measuring static and dynamic athletes’ body states. Wearable devices with inertial sensors are essential to measure and evaluate any activity in sport. The devices can be used in American Football to determine the motor behaviors of athletes.
Based on research, athletes performing repeated overhead motions such as quarterback ball throwing risk glenohumeral (GH) impingement syndrome. Legs act as the most critical segment in punting the Football. An ankle injury has been one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries, and various strategies have been put in place to prevent its occurrence. Protective bracing helps in the prevention of ankle sprains. Coaches in America Football can adopt protective bracing as a mode of avoiding players’ injuries. The coaches serve as the controlling figure in a game and can help achieve the preventive approaches. Recovery of injuries depends on the severity of the injury and the type, which requires athletes to take time off the game. Studies indicate that sports injuries can impact the physical and mental health of the players and consequently affect the team’s overall performance. Coaches and trainers in America Football should therefore be at the forefront of ensuring players receive treatment after injuries to ensure the players’ performance is maintained. Programs have been established to provide interventions and reduction of sports injuries.
Head impact
Brain trauma is common among football players and results from the accumulation of head impacts. In American Football, a high-intensity collision can result through direct head impacts or indirectly through impulsive. Repeated injuries lead to increased levels of blood-brain barriers leading to vulnerability of brain trauma. The head is unprotected and, therefore, the most vulnerable body part. The complexity of human movement during sport contributes to high levels of head impacts. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is common after repeated acute head impacts. The US soccer organization introduced guidelines in limiting head impacts due to the prolonged effects on the players. Additionally, they recommended decreasing head impacts on children to zero. The impacts of head injuries may be severe on children compared to adults due to the nature of their tissues. Wearable sensors play a crucial role in detecting head impacts during a match. The sensors can detect head impacts from regular motions. According to Faubert and Sidebottom (2012), one of the significant formidable tasks for an athletes’ brain during sporting activity is perceiving and integrating complex moving schemes while providing attentional resources in diverse regions of the dynamic sphere. Based on human motion complexity, devices such as skin-adhered patches attached at the back of the ear helps in generating complex algorithms and features. Diagnosis can therefore be effective and efficient when technology is used to identify the impacts and concussion. America Football uses sideline video reviews in improving head impacts recognition. Through the reviews, coaches can effectively determine the players’ movements and the factors leading to the injuries. This allows them to establish training paradigms that will help minimize the head impacts as they aim at excelling in the performance.
When head impact results, the wearable devices are triggered in collecting and saving the kinematic measurements. The finite element head models can calculate the rate of strain of the brain and therefore evaluate the risk of the injury. Therefore, the devices effectively detect acute head impacts during training and can be engaged in American Football. According to Stone and Kilding (2009), classic team sports training can evoke a marginal increase or decrease in aerobic fitness. Appropriate aerobic exercise plays a significant role in allowing players to engage in high-intensity activity effectively. The ability of the players’ bodies to deliver and use oxygen is essential in sports performance during and between high-intensity sprints. Through the obtained data, coaches and trainers can devise effective mechanisms and tactics for preventing injuries. According to research, American Football has lagged in terms of specific technical skills analysis and development. Hoffman (2008) noted that emphasizing prayers’ power, speed, and strength enables coaches to differentiate various players in different competition levels, thus providing important information on recruitment and motivating sports scientists when investigating forms of training paradigm for improving players’ performances. Coaches
Players’ attention
Coaches have a significant role to play in instructing the players for effective outcomes in competitions. The conditions of practice influence motor skills and enhance overall performance. Wearable devices play an essential role in monitoring the attention of the players. Based on research, effective verbal instructions and feedback from the coaches are vital for players’ performance outcomes. Internal focus of attention helps in directing the conscious to the body movement. Poor verbal instruction and feedback from coaches depress the performance of the players. Coaches offer athletes valuable information on actions of future performance to ensure the high performance of the players. Knowledge of results feedback and execution provides the players with skills necessary for effective implementation. Coaches offer performance knowledge and feedback to ensure an effective outcome. According to Porter, Wu, and Partridge (2010), the verbal instruction of the coaches plays a significant role in enhancing the attention of the players. Coaches determine the players’ movements, which offers them an effective platform for providing instructions and tactics in the sport. America Football thrives through effective coaching and instructions from the coaches. Data gathered from the wearable devices provide coaches with vital knowledge on how to approach the coaching and training. Through the observed players’ movements, verbal instructions can help to capture the attention of the players. In America Football, instructions and feedback can be applied in capturing the players’ attention. Feedback can help both coaches and athletes to improve performance and reduce potential injuries. A high level of attention promotes performance and reduces the chances of injuries. Achievement of high performance requires the regular performance of aerobic conditions. According to Stone and Kilding (2009), classic team sports training can evoke a marginal increase or decrease in aerobic fitness. Appropriate aerobic training plays a major role in allowing players to engage in high-intensity activity effectively.
Based on research, the internal attention focus directs the conscious attention of an individual to the body movement to a certain part of the body. Coaches offer athletes valuable information on actions of future performance to ensure the high performance of the players. Knowledge of results feedback and execution provides the players with skills necessary for effective implementation. Digital games have proved effective in improving the cognitive skills of players at various levels (Staiano & Calvert 2011). The skills can be transferred in American Football to improve and enhance performance. The game interprets the body movement of players based on the meaning of the play game. Digital games are distanced from the character, and therefore individuals develop coordination of the eye, hand, and foot. They also establish quick reaction time, which helps ineffective performance. Emotions serve as drivers to the players’ attentiveness. According to Vast, Young, and Thomas (2010), emotions can influence attention, impacting performance and sports outcomes. Anxiety has the potential of directing attention towards threatening stimuli over neural and positive impulses. According to Faubert and Sidebottom (2012), one of the significant formidable tasks for an athletes’ brain during sporting activity is perceiving and integrating complex moving schemes while providing attentional resources in diverse regions of the dynamic sphere. The trajectory path of a player and the object can be unpredictable since they can change speed abruptly. As the sports level increases, players’ mental tasks need to change and increase simultaneously. Coaches can use the tactics obtained in the digital games to promote strategies effective in American Football. Through the games, players compete and cooperate therefore providing a virtual integration. This increases the players’ attention, and its application in America Football can lead to effective performance and success in the overall performance.
Nutrition requirement
The increased musculoskeletal injuries can lead to loss of training time in America Football, and matches can be lost. Injury is any physical complaint that a player sustains and results from a training or actual game. Sports psychology and nutrition serve as a great combination in restoring and healing the musculoskeletal (Rollo et al., 2021). Training in sports aims at promoting changes in the structure and functions of the body muscles and tissues through selective breakdown and synthesis in response to the training stimulus. Sports nutrition can only be effective in meeting the recovery needs of a player when approached through an integrated approach with sport psychology. The diet requirements of athletes depend on various factors such as their environment, practical issues, and goal. A proper diet is an essential requirement in sports performance. Consumption of multiple components is required in the right proportion to enhance players’ performance. According to Maughan and Sheriffs (2012), high carbohydrates intake is essential for muscle formation, while fewer carbohydrates regulate muscle capacity for fat oxidation. Low carbohydrate diets improve performance and increase endurance. Coaches in America Football can help their players ensure high performance through the intake of essential nutrients and diets.
Ingestion of glucose and salt during prolonged exercise leads to functional maintenance of the cardiovascular and enhances the oxidation of carbohydrates. Consumption of formulated drinks is essential in providing adequate electrolytes for maintaining performance (Murray, 2007). Ingestion of carbohydrates alongside protein does not improve sports performance compared to pure intake of carbohydrates. The diet requirements of athletes depend on various factors such as their environment, practical issues, and goal. A high level of carbohydrates oxidation is maintained through high carbohydrates intake (Beck et al., 2015). Proper nutrition improves physical performance in sports. This includes proper food nutrition and proportion and intake of enough water. The status of individuals’ hydration is determined by the amount of water lost through sweat during training and competition (Khan et al., 2017). Training can be improved through the intake of specific food components that help improve body movement. Knowledge of nutrition is essential for coaches to offer advice to the players on the required nutrients to meet the expected needs. To recover the lost energy and maintain the body for better performance, programs and nutrition schedules can be followed prior, during, and after a match. The plans can help America Football coaches understand the effective nutrients to promote high performance and recover from muscle wear and tear.
Improving safety and performance
Injuries in America Football expose the players to high risk. Shoulder-led tackling has been established as a safe tackling approach. Tackling in America Football is risky and result in high injuries in the head. Reduced head contact through shoulder-led tackling is an effective method, though not common in American Football. The shoulder-led tackling system improves tackling performance, increases players’ safety, and allows them to gain a competitive edge (Maerlender et al., 2020). The approach reduces the likelihood of injuries by removing the head from tackling and therefore keeps the players in the field. Additionally, shoulder-led tackling allows high competition by analyzing tacking with the same attention offered to offensive performance. Actionable information is derived by translating tackling data from an unruly database into usable coaching points. A coach can train the shoulder-led tackling technique to the players to help them minimize injuries. Additionally,
Speed, balance, and coordination are practical skills to improve the safety and performance of the players. Sports shoes are designed to enhance the safety and performance of the players through the minimization of excess loading. The playing ground and the shoe compose an interactive system, which leads to designing shoes to serve particular sports. Coaches are entitled to direct players on the effective shoe design to meet the target of the game. Sport biomechanists have been at the forefront of identifying practices resulting in injuries and devising mechanisms to minimize those injuries. They aim at designing equipment that is safe and efficient to reduce sports injuries. Training errors such as an abrupt increase in running distances are the major risk factors for overuse injuries. Complications in equipment designed for protecting players is that they may protect one part of the body while injuring the other. Knee braces help protect the knees from injuries, but they often transform the pattern of lower-extremity muscle activity. This leads to the transfer of the maximum performed task to the hips. Additionally, knee braces can reduce sprinting speed and lead to quick fatigue onset-effective training and coaching help relieve fatigue and efficiently deal with the glycogen. American football coaches should determine the appropriate protective gears to protect the players, minimize fatigue and increase the overall performance.
Conclusion
Biomechanics can be applied in America Football by improving coaching tactics that will lead to performance improvement. Through biomechanics, coaches and trainers understand the fundamentals of mechanical principles. They also understand how they can be applied effectively to analyze movements of the human body. America Football can use the tactics and strategies derived from biomechanics to improve performance and minimize injuries. Understanding the body movement during training is essential in employing appropriate problem-solving skills for better player performance. Head and musculoskeletal injuries are common in American Football and result in loss of training time and may lead to permanent disability. Wearable devices have been developed through improved technology to help provide helpful information on players’ movement and minimize injury risks. Coaches offer athletes valuable information on actions of future performance to ensure the high performance of the players. Knowledge of results feedback and execution provides the players with skills necessary for effective implementation.
Coaches watch and offer feedback to players to correct faults and improve their performance. The movement analysis allows the coaches to measure the performance skills of their players and help them improve in their various areas of weakness. Understanding the various constraints is essential for coaches to propose and suggest fair and appropriate improvements according to the rules. As a coach employing both visual and listening skills is essential in offering effective tactics to the players. This allows the coaches to identify and correct errors once they occur. Most of the errors lower the players’ performance, increase the chances of injuries, and, therefore, should be corrected immediately. Effective communication should be established between the players and coaches to ensure better performance. Training in sports aims at promoting changes in the structure and functions of the body muscles and tissues through selective breakdown and synthesis in response to the training stimulus. Consumption of various components is required in the right proportion to enhance players’ performance.
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