Electromiographic and kinematic characteristics of Kung Fu Yau-Man palm strike O.P. Neto * , Marcio Magini Universidade do Vale do Paraı ´ba, Instituto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento, Av. Shishima Hifumi, 2911, Sa ˜o Jose ´ dos Campos-SP 12.244-000, Brazil Received 12 January 2007; received in revised form 22 March 2007; accepted 22 March 2007 Abstract A kinematic and electromyographic analysis of Kung Fu (KF) Yau-Man palm strikes without impact is presented. An empirical model applied to data obtained by a high-speed camera describes the kinematic characteristics of the movement. The electromyographic patterns of the biceps brachii, brachioradialis and triceps brachii muscles were studied during the strike in the time (root mean square) and frequency (wavelet transform) domains. Eight KF practitioners participated in the investigation. A wooden board was placed in front of the subjects, and they were asked to perform the strike imagining a target above the board. The results show that the Yau- Man KF palm strike has very similar kinematic characteristics to a simple moderate speed elbow extension movement. All practitioners positioned themselves in relation to the wooden board in a way to achieve their highest hand speeds in the instant their hands crossed the board. The analyses of the electromyography data shows a well developed muscle coordination of the practitioners in agreement with kinematic results. The results of this paper are important not only for improving the performance of practitioners but also to demon- strate the applicability of KF in the process of motor control development. Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Electromyography; High-speed camera; Kinematics; Kung Fu; Wavelet 1. Introduction In most martial arts such as Kung Fu (KF) or Karate, most strikes performed during practices are aimed at imag- inary targets (Layton and Bell, 1997; Mori et al., 2002); therefore, it is very important to determine the biomechan- ical characteristics of martial arts movements when done without impact. Some biomechanical characteristics of the Karate straight punch without impact have been investigated (Walker, 1975; Wilk et al., 1983). Walker (1975) reported that in the Karate straight punch the initial hand distance to target is about 70 cm, and the hand motion begins at the waist and terminates when the arm is fully extended. He also reported that the hand maximum speed is reached at 0.75 of the arm’s full extension, or typically 10–14 cm to the stopping point. Additionally, he reported that adept Karate practitioners naturally position themselves in rela- tion to targets in order to hit them with maximum hand speed. The Yau-Man KF strikes differ from Karate punches, among other factors, because of the smaller initial hand distance to target (30 cm in average), the fact that the strik- ing arm is slightly adducted during the whole motion, and the fact that the motion is terminated before full extension of the arm (Neto et al., 2007). This last characteristic sug- gests that, for the Yau-Man KF strikes, resultant muscle forces are responsible not only for accelerating the hand but also helping decelerate it. The main goals of this paper are to describe the kine- matic characteristics of the KF Yau-Man palm strike with- out an impact and to study the electromyographic patterns of the biceps brachii, brachioradialis and triceps brachii muscles during the strike. The authors are not aware of any publication of kinematic and electromyographic char- 1050-6411/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2007.03.009 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 12 39234254; fax: +55 12 39456810. E-mail address: osmar@univap.br (O.P. Neto). Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology xxx (2007) xxx–xxx www.elsevier.com/locate/jelekin ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: Neto O.P., Magini M., Electromiographic and kinematic characteristics of Kung Fu ..., J Electro- myogr Kines (2007), doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2007.03.009