Kinematic Characteristics of Backhand Block in Table Tennis

Kinematic characteristics have been playing a crucial role in assessing the quality of movements and improving training plans. We design five characteristic parameters of table tennis technical movements in this paper, i.e., the normalized path, joint angle, phase duration, root mean square and velocity entropy. Based on the motion data obtained from immersive motion capture system, the validity of these characteristic parameters was verified by analyzing backhand block movement. Twenty subjects with two different skill levels were involved in this test to perform backhand block against the ball. The statistical analysis results revealed that there were significant differences between the parameters of the professional group and those of the novice group, including normalized path, velocity entropy, root mean square and joint angle. Meanwhile, phase duration and joint angle showed practical significance biomechanically. These characteristic parameters could serve as indicators for movement quality assessment and could be extended to other table tennis technical movements as well as further biomechanics research.