Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Biomechanics and Control of Human Movement
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1509435
This article is part of the Research Topic Advancing Performance: Biomechanics in Paralympic and Adapted Sports View all articles

The Dynamics of Seated Shot Put: A Case Study Example of Pole Grip Optimisation

Provisionally accepted
Connor John Michael Holdback Connor John Michael Holdback 1*Rony Ibrahim Rony Ibrahim 2David Haydon David Haydon 3,4Paul Grimshaw Paul Grimshaw 5Richard Kelso Richard Kelso 1Ross Andrew Pinder Ross Andrew Pinder 6
  • 1 Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  • 2 Department of Physical Education, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • 3 Athletics Australia, Adelaide, Australia
  • 4 South Australian Sports Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  • 5 College of Health & Life Science, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
  • 6 Paralympics Australia, Adelaide, Australia

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

    The impact of pole position in seated shot put has been a key research question both in the previous literature and for coaches in the field. The aims of this research were to understand the dynamics of seated shot put and to investigate the impact of changing pole grip height on trunk parameters. Three grip heights are compared: the athlete’s standard grip, 75mm higher than standard, and 75mm lower than standard, to determine which grip produced greater angular velocity and power at the trunk. In addition, a post-analysis intervention was implemented following this investigation where the athlete completed four weeks of training (8 sessions) with a grip height that was indicated to be superior. The trunk was found to provide the largest contribution to the movement, with a 64% of the total velocity contribution. A lower grip height was found to generate greater power and velocity in trunk rotation and flexion when compared to higher grip heights. When assessed over the intervention period, the lower grip height showed an increased rate of improvement throughout, and a performance advantage over the standard grip after just four sessions. This research demonstrates that pole grip height can impact athlete biomechanical parameters and may improve overall performance given sufficient time.

    Keywords: Paralympic, Sport, Disability, Biomechanics, Seated Throw

    Received: 10 Oct 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Holdback, Ibrahim, Haydon, Grimshaw, Kelso and Pinder. 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: Connor John Michael Holdback, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, South Australia, Australia

    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.