Projected frontal area and its components during front crawl depend on lung volume

We examined the influence of lung volume on the vertical body position, trunk inclination, and projected frontal area (PFA) during swimming and the inter-relationships among these factors. Twelve highly trained male swimmers performed a 15 m front crawl with sustained maximal inspiration (INSP), maximal expiration (EXP), and intermediate (MID) at a target velocity of 1.20 m·s^-1 . Using our developed digital human model, which allows inverse kinematics calculations by fitting individual body shapes measured with a three-dimensional photonic image scanner to individually measured underwater motion capture data, vertical center of mass (CoM) position, trunk inclination, and PFA were calculated for each complete stroke cycle. In particular, the PFA was calculated by automatic processing of a series of parallel frontal images obtained from a reconstructed digital human model. The vertical CoM position was higher with a larger lung-volume level (p < 0.01). The trunk inclination was smaller in INSP and MID than in EXP (p < 0.01). PFA was smaller with a larger lung-volume level (p < 0.01). Additionally, there was a significant interaction of vertical CoM position and trunk inclination with PFA (p = 0.006). There was a negative association between PFA and vertical CoM position, and a positive association between PFA and trunk inclination less than the moderate vertical CoM position (each p < 0.05). These results obtained using our methodology indicate that PFA decreases with increasing lung volume due to an increase in vertical CoM position, and additionally due to a decrease in trunk inclination at low-to-moderate lung-volume levels.