A Feasibility Study of Kinematic Characteristics on the Upper Body According to the Shooting of Elite Disabled Archery Athletes

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the kinematic characteristics of the upper limb segments during the archery shooting of Paralympic Wheelchair Class archers (ARW2-second wheelchair class-paraplegia or comparable disability) and Paralympic Standing Class archers (ARST-standing archery class-loss of 25 points in the upper limbs or lower limbs), where archers are classified according to their disability grade among elite disabled archers. The participants of this study were selected as seven elite athletes with disabilities by the ARW2 (n = 4) and ARST (n = 3). The analysis variables were (1) the time required for each phase, (2) the angle of inclination of the body center, (3) the change of trajectory of body center, and (4) the change of the movement trajectory of the bow center by phase when performing six shots in total. The ARW2 group (drawing phase; M = 2.228 s, p < 0.05, holding phase; M = 4.414 s, p < 0.05) showed a longer time than the ARST group (drawing phase; M = 0.985 s, holding phase; M = 3.042 s), and the angle of the body did not show a significant difference between the two groups. Additionally, in the direction of the anteroposterior axis in the drawing phase, the change in the movement trajectory of the body center showed a more significant amount of change in the ARW2 group than in the ARST group, and the change in the movement trajectory of the bow center did not show a significant difference between the two groups.