Wayne Spratford

University of Canberra · UCRISE

Recent advances in robotics and artificial intelligence have highlighted the potential for the integration of computational intelligence in enhancing the functionality and adaptability of robotic systems, particularly in rehabilitation. Designing robotic exoskeletons for the lower limb rehabilitation of post-stroke patients requires frequent adjust...

The floor apparatus is associated with the highest rate of injury for male and female gymnasts in training and competition. This study aims to determine the magnitude of the upper and lower body impact loading when performing foundation floor tumbling skills and sequences. Fourteen sub‐elite artistic gymnasts (male, n = 9; female, n = 5) performed...

Objectives Injury surveillance is imperative for injury prevention but difficult in military populations. Our objective was to accurately describe the pattern of musculoskeletal complaints among Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fast jet aircrew (FJA) using the validated University of Canberra Fast Jet Aircrew Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (UC-FJAM...

The musculotendon mechanics of the hamstrings during high-speed running are thought to relate to injury but have rarely been examined in the context of prospectively occurring injury. This prospective study describes the hamstring musculotendon mechanics of two elite rugby players who sustained hamstring injuries during on-field running. Athletes u...

The ecological dynamics framework emphasises that movement solutions are guided by the relationship that exists between the performer and their environment, scaled to an individual’s own action capabilities. This suggests that representative practice tasks should be used in high performance settings to encourage individually optimised movement solu...

Background Military populations, including fast jet aircrew (FJA - aka fighter aircrew/pilots), commonly suffer from musculoskeletal complaints, which reduce performance and operational capability. Valid surveillance tools and agreed recordable injury definitions are lacking. Our objective was to develop and then evaluate the validity of a musculos...

Background Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS), including gluteal tendinopathy and bursitis, is a common, painful and debilitating condition. It is thought to involve overload of the gluteal tendons, which may be amplified through increased hip adduction moment (HAM) seen during gait in these individuals. Reducing the aberrant HAM may improve...

Purpose To compare the ankle plantar-flexor muscle-tendon mechanical behaviour during barefoot and shod forefoot running. Methods Thirteen highly trained forefoot runners performed five overground steady-state running trials (4.5 ± 0.5 m.s⁻¹) while barefoot and shod. Three-dimensional kinematic and ground reaction force data were collected and use...

The upper limbs are important in gymnastics vaulting, as the success of the flight phase is dependent on a quick and forceful push-off from the vault. This places the upper limbs under stress, which has been associated with pain and injury. This study aimed to quantify forearm segmental loading and symmetry when performing foundation to advanced-le...

Objectives Gravitational Force (Gz), head motion and helmet mass are associated with neck pain in high performance aircraft pilots. Few studies have quantified neck kinetics (intersegmental neck moments) during aerial combat manoeuvres. Methods We quantified net joint moments between the skull and C1, and C6–7 during typical flight related headche...

Interlimb coordination variability analysis can shed light into the dynamics of higher order coordination and motor control. However, it is not clear how the interlimb coordination of people with no known injuries change in similar activities with increasing difficulty. This study aimed to ascertain if the interlimb coordination variability range a...

Training task design with amateur female cricketers has typically comprised of deconstructed and monotonous approaches which may not maximise skill development. Clear guidelines to improve these practices in this cohort are lacking. The training environment should provide the same sources of information, decisions and variability as matches in orde...

Athletes alter ball flight trajectory in interceptive ball sports to change task constraints that their opponents must overcome to successfully meet the ball in flight. This systematic review identified how athletes change their techniques to alter the ball flight trajectory in high-performance interceptive sports where the ball is projected by the...

A human performance trial was conducted where the stabbing actions of 40 participants were investigated. A range of factors were assessed such as the action used when the blade shape and familiarity of the knife changed. A qualitative evaluation of these factors was presented in an earlier paper to precede the analysis of quantitative kinematic dat...

Talent development is at the forefront of research in sport, where female athletes remain underrepresented. With ongoing success and rapid participation growth, there is an opportunity to describe and assess talent development in cricket for female athletes. Research in other sports recommends a holistic approach to talent development, where the co...

In the theory of ecological dynamics, adaptive responses emerge through exploration when an individual interacts with their environment. This study investigates how when competing, the environment guides perceptual-motor exploration that is balanced by the need to meet performance requirements. To understand this, eight emerging expert cricket spin...

Background Landing-based measures of the knee are often used to assess risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and inform prevention strategies. There is less understanding of the ankle’s influence on knee measures during landing. Objective 1. Examine interactions of dynamic ankle measures alongside various subject and task characteristics...

Objectives Pronator drift is one of many clinical signs that would benefit from detailed study, but this requires accurate measurement of movement in three dimensions. The Vicon system is currently considered to be the gold standard for measurement of limb kinetics in a movement analysis lab but it cannot be used at the bedside for many reasons. Th...

Achilles tendinopathy is prevalent among Irish dancers, believed to be due to aesthetic technical requirements and high-impact landing tasks. However, the peak Achilles tendon force during Irish dancing-specific landing tasks has not been quantified. Furthermore, the influence of fatigue is unclear. This study aimed to quantify the peak Achilles te...

Despite female soldiers representing a growing user population, military body armour systems are currently better suited to the anthropometric dimensions of male soldiers. The aim of this study was to explore issues that female soldiers experience with current Australian Defence Force (ADF)-issue body armour. Following a sequential exploratory desi...

Background Gluteal-tendon repair (GTR) is reported to be effective for relieving pain and improving clinical function in patients with gluteal-tendon tears. The sit-to-stand (STS) task is an important activity of daily living and is often used to assess functional capacity in clinical populations. Understanding if and how STS performance is altered...

Brice, SM, Doma, K, and Spratford, W. Effect of footwear on the biomechanics of loaded back squats to volitional exhaustion in skilled lifters. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2021-This study examined whether footwear influences the movement dynamics of barbell back squats to volitional exhaustion in experienced lifters. Eleven men (1 repetitio...

Neck pain is a common complaint among fighter aircrew, impacting workforce health and operational capability. This systematic review aimed to identify, evaluate and synthesise the current evidence for factors associated with the occurrence of neck pain among fighter aircrew. Six electronic databases were searched in June 2019 and updated in June 20...

Race walkers must conform to a unique gait pattern with no visible loss of contact with the ground. However, how the gait pattern affects race walking economy is unclear. We investigated the energy cost (amount of energy spent per distance unit) at different race walking velocities and over a 25 km hybrid walk. Twenty-one international-level male r...

Background Gluteal-tendon repair is reported to be effective for relieving pain and improving function in patients with gluteal-tendon tears. However, post-operative three-dimensional gait analysis has never been conducted in gluteal-tendon repair patients. Thus, our primary aim was to investigate how biomechanical gait parameters differ between ag...

The magnitude of loading artistic gymnasts experience during training is currently unknown. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) could assess loading, although the reliability of these devices must be established prior to implementation into the training environment. This study aimed to determine inter-trial reliability of using IMeasureU Blue Thunder...

Design and development of contemporary military body armour has traditionally focused primarily on male soldiers. As the anthropometric body dimensions of male and female soldiers differ, we aimed to determine whether current body armour was meeting fit and functional requirements of female soldiers. One-hundred and forty-seven female Australian De...

Work boots featuring design elements implemented to protect the foot and lower limb are common in many industries. However, boot design can have negative unintended consequences such as increases in work related fatigue and injury risk. This study compared joint kinematics and the physiological cost of two commercially available steel-toed work boo...

Low-pass filters are ideal when filtering human movements, however the effectiveness of such filters relies on the correct selection of the cut-off frequency. The aim of this study was to determine the most appropriate filter cut-off for acceleration- and force-time data when measuring peak resultant acceleration (PRA) and ground reaction force (PR...

When executed correctly, swing bowling has the potential to influence the outcome of a cricket match, yet little is known about the required bowling action and ball flight characteristics. This study aimed to describe the bowling action and initial ball flight characteristics as well as to identify variables that may be associated with increased sw...

Background: Motor control and skill acquisition research have contributed greatly to understanding the learning process in sport, but very little of this knowledge has been applied in practice over the past fifty years. The characteristics of expertise in the two major cricket skills, batting and bowling, are well established but the training envir...

Forensic textile damage examinations are commonly requested in cases such as stabbings. These requests often involve the testing of knives or other weapons submitted to determine if they could have caused the damage to the evidential garment. Currently a forensic practitioner conducts this testing by manually performing the stabbing action. A biome...

Talent development in sport is a comprehensive area of research with various conceptualisations of how the body moves and how skills are developed. The sports coaching environment is often criticised for a lack of evidence-based approaches to talent development, driven by limited access to appropriate sources of information. The current conceptuali...

Biomechanical analysis has typically been confined to a laboratory setting. While attempts have been made to take laboratory testing into the field, this study was designed to assess whether augmented reality (AR) could be used to bring the field into the laboratory. This study aimed to measure knee load in volleyball players through a jump task in...

Delivering a cricket ball with a wrist-spin (WS) bowling technique is considered one of the game’s most difficult skills. Limited biomechanical information exists for WS bowlers across skill levels. The purpose of this study was to compare biomechanical, isokinetic strength and anthropometric measures between elite (12) and pathway bowlers (eight)....

In the sport of cricket, the pitch is an organic surface that represents an important environmental constraint. While the soil properties of the pitch are known to influence the pace and bounce of medium and fast deliveries, it is unknown how the soil constructs or the seam of the cricket ball affect the pace, bounce, and deviation of a spinning de...

A common practice in resistance training is to perform sets of exercises at, or close to failure, which can alter movement dynamics. This study examined ankle, knee, hip, and lumbo-pelvis dynamics during the barbell back squat under a moderate-heavy load (80% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM)) when performed to failure. Eleven resistance trained males...

BACKGROUND: During flight, fast jet pilots frequently move their heads into extreme positions while withstanding large amounts of stress on their cervical spines. These factors are thought to contribute to episodes of neck pain. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of previous neck pain prevalence data in fast jet pilots to...

Uneven asymmetrical landings in artistic gymnastics is considered a risk factor for injury. The aim of this research was to investigate if gymnasts experience asymmetrical upper and lower limb loading when performing foundation gymnastics skills on floor. Sixteen competitive level gymnasts (male= 8, female= 8) performed seven different gymnastics s...

Hamstring injuries are highly prevalent in many running‐based sports, and predominantly affect the long head of biceps femoris. Re‐injury rates are also high and together lead to considerable time lost from sport. However, the mechanisms for hamstring injury during high‐speed running are still not fully understood. Therefore, the aim of this review...

Objectives: There is considerable debate among clinicians as to whether sports tape can provide mechanical support and pain relief. People with greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) have increased adduction moment, adduction angle and pelvic obliquity, likely contributing to the continuation of the pathology. We aimed to see if Dynamic Tape ® c...

Objectives: To describe the most common hamstring injury scenarios and outcomes in elite rugby union. Design: Retrospective investigation. Setting: Hamstring injury data from an elite rugby union team was collected over five seasons and retrospectively analysed. Participants: 74 professional rugby players. Main outcome measures: Injuries w...

Hamstring injuries are one of the most prevalent injuries in rugby union and many other running-based sports, such as track sprinting and soccer. The majority of these injuries occur during running; however, the relationship between running mechanics and hamstring injury is unclear. Obtaining large samples of prospective injury data to examine this...

INTRODUCTION: Prevalence of flight-related neck pain in fast jet aircrew is reportedly as high as 95%, sometimes affecting fitness to fly and longevity of active service. Whilst many studies have investigated neck kinematics and EMG of cervical musculature in different helmeted postures, there is a need to determine head on neck accelerations durin...

INTRODUCTION: Aerial combat manoeuvres involve frequent “head checks” above or behind the line of flight. Some head check positions are more physically demanding than others and may contribute to pilot neck pain. This study developed an automated system to interpret head-mounted inertial sensor data to reliably count each head check and classify th...

INTRODUCTION: In order to understand neck pain and neck forces in fast jet pilots, our previous study collected three-dimensional motion data using the VICON camera system from RAAF fast jet pilots performing common “head checks” whilst seated on an F/A-18A ejection seat. Pilots were modelled wearing 2 helmet types (HGU-55/P and JHMCS). Dynamic gra...

A conventional boxing glove and a prototype pneumatic glove were each fitted to a mechanical fist and dropped 253 times from a height of 3 metres on to a force plate covered by an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) mat. Impact dynamics were measured and modelled. From the outset, peak impact force and peak rate of force development (loading rate) were lo...

Background Artistic gymnastics is reported to have some of the highest injury rates in sports, which limits participation and often involves considerable medical expenses. Purpose To critically appraise the epidemiological literature on injury patterns and risk factors in competitive artistic gymnastics. Study design Systematic review. Methods S...

This study was aimed at improved understanding of the mechanisms of pre- viously reported protective effects of a pneumatic boxing glove. A Motion Capture System was used to obtain velocity data from four different boxing gloves dropped on to a force plate from nine heights ranging from 1 to 5 me- tres. Two gloves were of the conventional type but...

Two prototype pneumatic boxing gloves of different design were compared against conventional 10 oz (Std 10 oz) and 16 oz (Std 16 oz) gloves in terms of ability to reduce impact forces delivered to a target. One of the pneumatic gloves (SBLI) contained a sealed air bladder inflated to a pressure of 2 kPa. The other (ARLI) incorporated a bladder that...

Two prototype pneumatic boxing gloves of different design were compared against conventional 10 oz (Std 10 oz) and 16 oz (Std 16 oz) gloves in terms of ability to reduce impact forces delivered to a target. One of the pneumatic gloves (SBLI) contained a sealed air bladder inflated to a pressure of 2 kPa. The other (ARLI) incorporated a bladder that...

The purpose of this study was to highlight the effects of the environment on spin bowling tactics in test match cricket. The speed differences employed by Indian and Australian spin bowlers in home and away test matches were examined over a nine-year period. Eleven test matches played in Australia and 10 test matches played in India from 2007 to 20...

With advances in technology, scientists are now able to more accurately measure elbow displacement changes during the cricket bowling action. This has led to the realisation that the majority of bowlers undergo some degree of elbow extension during the forward swing phase of bowling. Consequently, the International Cricket Council were obliged to r...

ABSTRACT The impact damping capabilities of four different boxing gloves were assessed under two different conditions of target padding to determine whether target characteristics might influence previous conclusions concerning potential for impact mitigation through novel glove design. A conventional 10 oz glove (Std 10 oz), a conventional 16 oz g...

Design methods were employed over a 5-year period to develop boxing gloves capable of substantially buffering impact forces delivered to an opponent, thereby permitting safer boxing. Multiple concepts were explored, with sophistication of prototypes gradually increasing. The protoypes underwent both quantitative laboratory testing and qualitative e...

Purpose: To verify the immediate effects of altering sagittal plane trunk position during jump-landings on lower limb biomechanics, patellar tendon force and pain of athletes with and without patellar tendinopathy. Methods: Twenty-one elite male athletes were categorized into 3 groups, athletes with patellar tendinopathy (TG, n=7), asymptomatic...

Running symmetry is important for performance, injury prevention or rehabilitation in many sports. However, current methods for measuring running symmetry are expensive, time consuming and must typically be constrained to a non-task representative laboratory setting. The aim of this study was to validate a method that used accelerometry data to det...

Firefighters incur high incidences of lower back and body injuries. Firefighting boots, with specific design requirements, have been shown to reduce ankle range of motion. This reduction has been associated with impaired force dissipation and lower body kinematic alterations. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between fir...

Spin bowling plays a fundamental role within the game of cricket yet little is known about the initial ball kinematics in elite and pathway spin bowlers or their relationship to performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to record three-dimensional ball kinematics in a large and truly high level cohort of elite and pathway finger-spin (F...

BACKGROUND: Firefighting is a physically demanding occupation where workers are exposed to a significantly increased risk of injuries. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this narrative review was to examine the literature surrounding protective firefighting boots and their relationship to lower body and lumbar biomechanics and potential injury. METHODS: An...

Successful interception relies on the use of perceptual information to accurately guide an efficient movement strategy that allows performers to be placed at the right place at the right time. Although previous studies have highlighted the differences in the timing and coordination of movement that underpin interceptive expertise, very little is kn...

Recurve archery is an Olympic sport that requires extreme precision, upper body strength and endurance. The purpose of this research was to quantify how postural stability variables both pre- and post-arrow release, draw force, flight time, arrow length and clicker reaction time, collectively, impacted on the performance or scoring outcomes in elit...

Active drag force in swimming can be calculated from a function of five different variables: swim velocity, tow velocity, belt force, power output and exponent of velocity. The accuracy of the drag force value is dependent on the accuracy of each variable, and on the contribution of each variable to drag estimation. To calculate uncertainty in drag...

Research in the field of sports performance is constantly developing new technology to help extract meaningful data to aid in understanding in a multitude of areas such as improving technical or motor performance. Video playback has previously been extensively used for exploring anticipatory behaviour. However, when using such systems, perception i...

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of delivery stride length on the performance outcomes of ball release speed, accuracy and ball release height within a large cohort of elite male cricket fast bowlers. Data for this observational, cross-sectional study were collected from national under 19, senior state and international level playe...

Objectives: Evaluate the validity of a commercially available wearable device, the Vert, for measuring vertical displacement and jump count in volleyball athletes. Propose a potential method of quantifying external load during training and match play within this population. Design: Validation study. Methods: The ability of the Vert device to m...

The purpose of this investigation was to identify differences in end range of motion (ROM) kinetic and kinematic strategies between highly resistance and vertical jump trained athletes and controls. Weightlifters (WL: n=4), short track speed skaters (STSS: n=5) and non-resistance trained controls (C: n=6) performed six standing vertical squat jumps...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of peak outward acceleration (POA) measured from an inertial sensor worn at the wrist as an indicator of the critical end point of the bowling action – ball release, a critical element when assessing illegal actions. Twenty-one finger-spin and fast bowlers from nine countries were recruited f...