An Analysis of Methods for Ergonomics Research in Sports

By conducting a review of ergonomics papers across multiple athletic disciplines within one research lab, a dichotomy of analysis lenses was deemed most effective for engineering research into sports: technique and equipment. While ergonomic analysis of technique and equipment often involve similar types of data, most notably EMG data of relevant musculature and visual assessment of photo or video recordings, meaningfully different conclusions can be drawn and differing types of recommendations given for future improvements to human performance. Both technique and equipment analysis can provide valuable insight into discrepancies between novice and expert performance, and proper selection of a technique or equipment focus can highlight various desired aspects of these discrepancies. This paper will discuss the strengths and potential oversights of sports analysis with a technique versus equipment focus, as well as discuss successful methods of balancing technique and equipment analysis to produce holistic conclusions. The athletic disciplines covered include American football, archery, basketball, and gymnastics.