Segment angle. The upper arm segment angle was analyzed for both the close-hands and far-hands push-ups. The maximum angle for the upper arm segment in the close-hands push-up was 86 degrees compared to 87 degrees in the far-hands push-up. The minimum angle for the upper arm segment in the close-hands push-up was 14 degrees compared to 27 degrees in the far-hands push-up. The close-hands push-up resulted in a greater range of motion ( 72 deg) compared to the range of motion of the far-hands push-up ( 60 deg).
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Figure 3.The upper arm segment angle during the close-hands push-up (left) and the far-hands push-up (right). The segment lies between the shoulder and elbow joint markers. The angle is measured counterclockwise from the vertical axis that passes through the elbow joint marker. | |
Segment velocity. Maximum positive angular velocity of the upper arm segment for the far-hands push-up (233 deg/s) was larger than the angular velocity for the close-hands push-up (133 deg/s). The minimum angular velocity for the upper arm was also greater for the far-hands push-up (-200 deg/s) than the angular velocity for the close-hands push-up (-167 deg/s). For both push-ups, the maximum angular velocities occurred during the ascent phase of the push-up. Maximum positive velocity occurred when the movement was 7.1 % complete in the close-hands push-up and when the movement was 25 % complete in the far-hands push-up. Maximum negative velocity occurred at a later time in the far-hands push-up (at 52 % of total movement time) than in the close-hands push-up (at 48 % of total movement time).
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Figure 4. The upper arm segment angular velocity in the close-hands push-up (left) and the far-hands push-up (right). Positive velocities indicate clockwise rotation. | |
Joint angle1. The angle of the shoulder joint was analyzed for both the close-hands pushup and the far-hands push-up. Shoulder joint angle decreased during the ascent phase and increased during the descent phase of both movements. The peak horizontal adduction was smaller for the close-hands push-up (116 deg) than for the far-hands push-up (122 deg). Further, this peak adduction was reached at a later time during the movement for the close-hands push-up (46% of total movement time) than for the far-hands push-up (42% total movement time.) The horizontal abduction for the close-hands pushup position was 9 degrees larger for the close-hands push-up (159 deg) than the far-hands push-up (150 deg), and there was a considerably larger range of motion in the close-hands push-up (43 deg) than in the far-hands push-up (28 deg).
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Figure 5. Shoulder joint angles in the close-hands push-up (left) and the far-hands push-up (right). The joint angle was defined as the angle between the shoulder segment and the upper arm segment. Increasing angles show horizontal abduction; decreasing angles show horizontal adduction. | |
Joint angle 2. The elbow joint angle was analyzed for both the close-hands push-up and the far-hands push-up. The elbow angle began more flexed (80 deg) for the close-hands push-up than for the far-hands push-up (109 deg). The maximum angles for both movements occurred at the transition point between the ascent phase and the descent phase. The maximum elbow angle of 175 degrees was reached in the close-hands push-up when the total movement was 46% complete, whereas the maximum elbow angle of 183 degrees was reached when the total movement was 42% complete. Thus, a larger range of motion was achieved in the close-hands push-up (95 deg) than in the far-hands push-up (74 deg).
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Figure 6. Elbow angle in the close-hands push-up (left) and the far-hands push-up (right). The joint angle was calculated between the upper arm segment and the forearm segment. Increasing angles show elbow extension; decreasing angles show elbow flexion. Anatomical position corresponds to 180 degrees. Angles less than 180 are flexion. | |
Angle-Angle Plot. When the shoulder joint was plotted against the elbow joint, we discovered that the two joints were tightly coupled. Throughout the entire push-up, both the elbow and the shoulder joint were moving. During the ascent phase of the push-up, the shoulder horizontally adducts while the elbow extends. The shoulder horizontally abducts while the elbow flexes during the descent phase of the push-up.
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Figure 7. Coordination of elbow joint and shoulder joint in close-hands push-up (left) and far-hands push-up (right). The arrow shows the direction of the push-up. | |
