Abstract
The present study involved a cross-sectional investigation of the arm swing direction during sprint running in order to clarify age- and gender-dependent characteristics and specificities. A total of 457 subjects of both sexes ranging from elementary school children to adult sprinters were visually assessed during sprint running and classified as “longitudinal direction” (Type 1), “mixed” (Type 2) or “lateral direction” (Type 3) based on the direction of their arm swing. The results were as follows. 1) The side-to-side range of the Type 3 swing decreased with advancing age for males, whereas this type accounted for the highest proportion among all age groups for females, except for lower elementary school students. 2) Among high-performance sprinters, the majority of males were Type 1, whereas females were Type 3. 3) Except for boys in the upper grade at elementary school, one-way ANOVA of the sprint run time among swing types for the various cohorts showed no significant differences. These findings suggest that there is a gender-dependent difference in arm swing direction during sprint running. Furthermore, unlike previous reports that have recommended longitudinal swing (back and forth) for high-performance achievement, the present results suggest that female sprinters can accomplish this even with a lateral swing.
