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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sports Science, Technology and Engineering
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1358224

Silicone Cushioning Improves Boxing Punch Force Delivery

Provisionally accepted
Chia-Hua Kuo Chia-Hua Kuo 1*Sirichet Punthipayanon Sirichet Punthipayanon 2Supranee Kwanboonchan Supranee Kwanboonchan 2,3Pornthep Rachanavy Pornthep Rachanavy 4
  • 1 Department of Sports Sciences, University of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
  • 2 Srinakharinwirot University, Watthana District, Thailand
  • 3 Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Pathumthani, Thailand
  • 4 Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Elastic cushioning materials protect human tissue from injury by absorbing impact energy and delaying its transfer. However, the potential compromise in force delivery to the hitting target remains unknown.To examine if silicone cushioning compromises punch force delivery to a hitting target, a double-blind crossover trial with 12 elite boxers was conducted following material tests.Each boxer delivered five maximal punches under two conditions: silicone-hand wrapping and gauze-hand wrapping, in counterbalanced order, with a three-day interval between sessions.Force distribution along the Z-axis indicated the punch's intended direction, while forces along the X and Y axes represented force dissipation toward unwanted direction.The material tests (based on ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA) demonstrated substantially higher compression to disruption for silicone than gauze of similar thickness. During the punching trials, the silicon-based hand wrapping exhibited slightly higher total force production (436 ± 33 N vs. 372 ± 12 N, p < 0.001) than the gauze-based hand wrapping. Moreover, force wastage, calculated as the sum of forces along the X and Y axes versus the total force produced in percentage, was notably lower for silicone material (2.0% wastage) compared to gauze (3.8% wastage) (p < 0.001). The use of silicone materials lengthened the contact time between the punching fist and the hitting target from 35 ms to 50 milliseconds (p < 0.001).The elastic cushion does not compromise the force delivery of the boxing glove to the hitting target. Instead, it appears to allow for additional maneuvering time for alignment during the fist-target contact with higher impact.

    Keywords: Boxer, punching glove, Elastic Materials, impact, force, Biomechanical

    Received: 19 Dec 2023; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kuo, Punthipayanon, Kwanboonchan and Rachanavy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chia-Hua Kuo, Department of Sports Sciences, University of Taipei, Taipei, 111, Taiwan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.