VELOCITY OF THE TAEKWONDO AXE KICK AND RESULTANT LINEAR

ACCELERATION OF AN INSTRUMENTED HEAD FORM

1
Gabriel P. Fife, 1Thomas W. Kaminski, 2David O’Sullivan, 3Willy Pieter, 4Isshin Shin, 5Taehee Lim
1
University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware USA
2
Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
3
University of Asia and the Pacific, Pasig, Philippines
4
Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
5
Yongin University, Yongin, South Korea
email: fifeg@udel.edu

Accepted for poster presentation at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics
INTRODUCTION
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
refer to concussion as a “silent epidemic”
(300,000/year) [1]. In Taekwondo (TKD),
concussion incidence is three times greater than in
American football [2,5]. To this date a
biomechanical analysis of TKD head kicks and
head injury outcomes does not exist. The purpose of
this investigation was to assess the effect of various
kicks on resultant head linear acceleration (RLA),
change in head velocity and peak foot velocity of
kicks.
METHODS
Two males (22.00+0.0 years, 184+0.0cm,
81.30+1.8 kg) and two females 20.00+2.8 years,
171.0+1.4 cm, 63.00+5.2 kg) elite TKD athletes
were recruited for this pilot study. Resultant linear
head acceleration (RLA) data were collected from
five the axe kick (FA) and clench axe kick (JH)
randomly performed five times. A Hybrid II Crash
Dummy head (H2D) and neck were instrumented
with a tri-axial piezoelectric accelerometer, PCB
Piezotronics 356A66 (Depew, New York) mounted
at the head center of gravity. The change in head
velocity was observed by placing a reflective
marker at the apex of the H2D head. The H2D was
fixed to a height adjustable frame and fitted with a
protective TKD helmet (LeCAF - Seoul, South
Korea). Acceleration data were captured at 10,000
Hz using Qualisys Track Manager (Gothenburg,
Sweden) and processed in accordance with SAE
J211-1. Each subjects’ foot was marked with
reflective markers at the heel and between the first
and second metatarsals to allow for determining
Fife, G. P., Kaminski, T. W., O’Sullivan, D., Pieter, W. and Lim, T. H. (2010), Velocity of the taekwondo axe kick and resultant linear acceleration, 2010
Annual American Society of Biomechanics Meeting, Providence, RI, USA, August 18-21.
peak foot velocities. A Mann-Whitney U test was
used to compare the linear velocities of the axe
kicks and RLA within men and women. The level
of significance was set to 0.05.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 displays the descriptive statistics of peak
foot velocity by type of axe kick as well as RLA. In
the men, there was a significant difference in RLA
as a result of the kick with the clench axe kick
scoring higher (p = 0.016, ES = 1.70). In the
women, the foot velocity was higher for the clench
axe kick (p = 0.025, ES = 1.58).
A previous investigation by Viano [5] report
kinematics of a Hybrid III Crash Test Dummy head
and RLA with a high average head RLA of 71.2g
with the hook and a low of 24.1g with the uppercut
punch. These values were averaged across all
participating weight divisions and only observed
head injury characteristics as produced by Olympic
male boxers. Our results indicate a mean RLA
produced by elite TKD athletes of the head
comparable to that of the boxing uppercut. A
previous live competition analysis [3] conclude the
axe kick variations are high culprits for concussion
in TKD although other kicks are used but not
always resulting in concussion.
CONCLUSIONS
As our initial pilot study is the first of its kind to
observe head RLA on an instrumented head form
and peak foot velocities of kicks it is recommended
that future studies include analysis of a larger
subject pool including other kick techniques 4.Pieter, W. The 2nd International Symposium for
commonly reported to cause concussion in Taekwondo Studies, Seoul: Daekyung Books, pp.
taekwondo. 110-117, 2009.
5. Viano et al. Neurosurgery. 57, 1154-1172,
REFERENCES 2005.

1.Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Prevention; 2003.
2.Delaney JS. Clin J Sports Med. 12, 80-70, 2004. We would like to thank Mike Gratopp of Denton
3.Koh JO. Cassidy JD. Clin J Sports Med. 14(2), ATD Inc. (Rochester Hills, MI USA) for their
72-79, 2004. contribution in donating the H2D device

Table 1: Linear velocity (m*s-1) and magnitude as a function of axe kick in elite taekwondo athletes

Clench axe kick Men Women

Foot velocity (m*s-1) 9.70 ± 2.16 9.10 ± 2.33
Head velocity (m*s-1) 3.90 ± 1.33 2.93 ± 0.55
Resultant Head Linear Acceleration (g) 33.28 ± 11.09 18.22 ± 4.84
HIC 62.20 ± 39.90 22.17 ± 11.22
Front axe kick
Foot velocity (m*s-1) 8.48 ± 1.86 6.21 ± 0.98
Head velocity (m*s-1) 3.63 ± 1.10 3.11 ± 0.50
Resultant Head Linear Acceleration (g) 20.66 ± 7.03 18.48 ± 7.20
HIC 23.52 ± 11.47 24.57 ± 17.91

Fife, G. P., Kaminski, T. W., O’Sullivan, D., Pieter, W. and Lim, T. H. (2010), Velocity of the taekwondo axe kick and resultant linear acceleration, 2010 Annual
American Society of Biomechanics Meeting, Providence, RI, USA, August 18-21.