Sports Technology

The most crucial, complex, and susceptible link between a sport climber and the rock are his or her fingers. It is necessary sometimes to hold the body weight on only one finger or to grip holds only a few millimeters deep. Therefore, joints, tendons, and pulleys of the fingers are the most often injured body part. This overview gives insight into the physiology and pathophysiology of a climber's fingers. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

A new rowing simulator providing realistic visual, acoustic, and haptic feedback is presented. The validation of the real-time model driving the feedback displays as well as tests with professional rowers confirmed its usability and the high realism of the feedback. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

This study from Sweden reports that mediator sites located between the macro and micro-levels in the innovation system are particularly important for safety management and control in the development of artificial turf for soccer. At these sites, experiences and knowledge were cooperatively developed and shared with both policy-makers and sports practitioners from local communities. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

Athletic performance in half-pipe snowboarding is currently assessed by purely subjective measures. Micro-technology focussed on objective information could however enhance the reliability of this assessment. This paper describes an innovative half-pipe snowboard competition (2007 AIS Micro-Tech Pipe Challenge) where athletes were required to compete whilst wearing inertial sensors. The project was designed to evaluate whether snowboarders would embrace results that were in part determined objectively and additionally assess the relationship between subjective judging and results predicted from purely objective information. Image reproduced by kind permission of Ben Alexander. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

Over the past decade, baseball and softball governing bodies have developed means to measure and regulate bat performance. This study contrasts the varied methods and measures. The effect of experimental error on bat performance is also considered. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

The instrumentation of climbing holds is a useful tool for the trainer in order to quantify the performance during competitions and training sessions. In this study, instrumented holds were incorporated in the routes of a climbing world cup and a national climbing championship. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd