Development of a new experimental protocol for analysing the race-walking technique based on kinematic and dynamic parameters

This paper describes a new motion analysis protocol for race-walking. The protocol has been tested under laboratory conditions on a real athlete of the Italian national race-walking team. The experimental setup included a motion capture system and a force platform to record both kinematic and dynamic aspects of the athletic action. Thus, any infringement of the rules can be detected, based on the measure of knee flexion-extension and the loss of ground contact. The biomechanical efficiency can be determined from the joint angles and the temporal components of gait. The results of experiments show that the protocol can be a valuable tool to assist athletes and trainers in improving race-walking technique.