Relationship of kinetic and somatic variables to kicking strength in female taekwon-do athletes

Purpose: The objective of this study is to ascertain how specific somatic traits and kinematic indices influence the force of a punch, contingent on the type of kick (i.e., turning kick and side kick). Methods: One hundred kicks were performed by five female elite ITF taekwon-do (International Taekwon-do Federation) athletes (aged 27.0 ± 4.8 years, body mass 64.2 ± 5.8 kg, height 163.0 ± 6.5 cm). To record the force of the impact, a strain gauge platform padded with a training disc was used as a target to protect the participants from direct impact on a force plate mounted on a stable structure. Results: The study demonstrated that the side kicks of female taek- won-do athletes achieved, on average, a higher peak pressure force (1770 N) than the turning kick (1379 N) ( p < 0.01). Conversely, the lower limb segments demonstrate an inverse trend in terms of average peak acceleration values. The effective mass values recorded in this study expressed as a percentage of the athletes' total body mass, were approximately 18% for the turning kick and 85% for the side kick. Conclusions: The findings of these studies demonstrate that pressure force evidently increases with rising effective mass. However, no correlation was observed between the acceleration of the foot and the other segments of the lower limb. The calculated β* factor indicates that there are no lateralisation differences in pressure force between kicks performed with the right and left leg.