The overhead football throw is one of the most popular sports movements amongst young males in America. It is an overhead throw with a football, which quarterbacks make when they throw the ball, usually for a great distance. Due to the shape of the ball, it should also have a particular twisting pattern so that the throw may be more accurate and fast. The main joints involved are the elbow and the shoulder, so it is important to take them into account when discussing the motion’s biomechanics.
The starting position of the movement is simply standing up, with the ball in one’s hand. This should be followed by the step and gather, which is the first proper step of the quarterback throw; it is important to note that it may also be called the wind-up. In terms of the sport’s functionality, this allows the quarterback to step away from the line of scrimmage, employing wide footing so as to keep his or her center of mass stable, while at the same time interpreting what his teammate are doing. The player then sustains the ball close to his or her chest, with the leading shoulder facing the play.
Then, the stride and arm cocking happen. The quarterback takes a step forward, usually while moving back the arm with which he or she is holding the ball. Optimally, it should reach a rich angle from the arm pit to the hand, with the forearm and hand parallel to the body’s midline; this is done to produce torque through angular velocity. In keeping with Newton’s third law, the leading arm plays a significant role as well, providing angular velocity to the throw. As such, the leading elbow should be at its highest point when the arm is cocked, so as to increase both the speed of the throwing arm and of the ball being projected.
This is succeeded by the arm acceleration, which ends in the release of the ball. The velocity with which this object will go depends on the acceleration that the quarterback can generate. During this critical phase, there is a fast internal shoulder rotation of almost a right angle happening in about 0.4 seconds. At the beginning of this movement, the anterior muscles are concentric, while, at the end, the posterior muscles are eccentric.
Finally, players should perform a follow through, in which the key component is the plant foot. After the generated force is transferred to the ball, there will still be proportional momentum in the throwing arm. This allows the player to break the impulse that the throw has generated by stepping in front of his or her own center of mass, stopping the propulsion that the throw generates.
Adequately throwing a football involves a person’s whole body. Nevertheless, the most important joints involved are the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist, the hip, the knee and the ankle; all of these work together to make the football be fast and accurate, all while reducing the stress on the person’s body. As such, the whole body is involved in order to optimize the angular velocity, the torque, efficiency and safety.
Even though the first three are the ones that are most noticeable, it is also important to include the hip and the leg, which are involved in the step and gather, the stride and the follow through. It should also be noted that the wrist and the ankle are mostly noticeable in certain parts of the throw. Basically, the ankle is involved as a stabilizer, and must move, yet does not perform and significant, deliberate movement; therefore, it has been left out of the subsequent discussion.
This movement is a plyometric muscular contraction. It is performed on the frontal axis, through the frontal plane. The arm extends itself on the transverse plane, while the upper body rotates on the longitudinal axis. In the table below, one can see the muscles involved in the different stages of a football throw: step and gather, stride and arm cocking, arm acceleration and follow through. The muscles that have been contemplated are the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist, the knee and the hip. They have been divided into right and left, as these joints perform differently in the action; the table is for dexterous players, but it can be modified by simply changing the sides if the person is left dominant.
Action of Muscles Involved in Different Stages of Football Throw
In the football throw, the force phase is the arm acceleration. In the shoulder, the important muscles are the serratus anterior, the trapezius middle fibers, the trapezius lower fibers and the diagonal abductors. In the shoulder, the pronator quadratos, the long head of the biceps branchii, the short head of the same muscle, the brachialis and the brachioradialis. In the knee, the biceps femoris, the popliteus, the semi-membranosus and the sem-tendinosus are used. Finally, in the hip, the iliacus, the Sartorius, the psoas, the pectineus adductor both brevis and longus, the rectus femoris, the gracilis and the adductor magnus are the muscles that come into play.
Nevertheless, it is not only important to know the muscles involved; biomechanical principles help optimize a football throw by taking into account the physics behind the movement. Force-motion and spin are the two most important biomechanical principles that one should take into account when performing a football throw.
When taking force-motion into account, one must see that the football throw is really a chain of coordinated movements. There are many muscles at play, and the whole body is involved in doing it properly. By focusing on the different elements, how they interact and the purpose that they serve, an athlete can make his or her football throw even better.
Furthermore, the spin allows the ball to keep a stable and efficient flight. Obviously, since the ball is being projected, this is something that should be taken into account, so as to optimize accuracy and efficiency. It also is responsible for the fluid force of lift, which counters the force of gravity that naturally acts upon the ball.
It is important to not universalize movements, including such popular ones as an overhead football throw. Many young people across America perform this movement one a daily basis, casually, especially with their friends. Nevertheless, it is important to note that there are some aspects that should be taken into account when performing such an action. There are a couple of possible modifications for the youth population that take into account their bodily development and motor skills, being especially significant in that they could help reduce the probability of injury.
Even though there has not been a significant amount of research done on the effects of throwing a football, there is a related motion that has been proven to be very dangerous, causing frequent lesions in young people. “Though there are few data available regarding youth injuries in football passing, there are numerous studies of youth pitching participation in baseball and their relation to injury” (Platt, 2012, p. 7). Due to the similarity of both of these motions, it is important for both trainers and young athletes to be aware of the possible risks that it entails, so that they may not suffer significant injuries.
The teaching of proper kinematics is crucial both for throwing the ball optimally, both in terms of speed and accuracy, as well as for avoiding injury in both sports. For example, it is important to have them note that one should not lead with the hip, as this may diminish the torque and efficiency of the movement. Furthermore, the shoulder should be open so as to increase these two parameters as well.
Nevertheless, there is still the problem of other modifications that a person may do in order to reduce optimize the throw. “When looking at athletes with limited quarterbacking experience throwing a football, we see that for the bullet and lob pass the greater then 90º shoulder angle does produce more points” (Jensen, 2014, p. 121). Therefore, one should orient young people towards making passes at an angle greater than ninety degrees so as to have them optimize their accuracy.
In conclusion, the overhead football throw is a very complicated movement that takes the whole body into account. Even though many people have done it throughout their lives, biomechanics can be of help so as to optimize the efficiency of the action. There are basically four movements in the action: the step and gather, the stride and arm cock, the arm acceleration and the follow through, which is often disregarded.
These involve different muscles related to the hip, the shoulder, the elbow, the knee, the wrist and the ankle. One must take into account the two biomechanical principles of force-motion and spin to perform it properly. There are modifications that can be made for young athletes to prevent injuries, even though more research should be performed in this field.
Reference List
Anderson, C. S. M., Breen, S., and Jensen, R. L. (2014). Proceedings of XXXII Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports: Comparison of kinematics and accuracy of overhand American Football throwing. Retrieved from http://commons.nmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=facwork_conferencepapers
Platt, B. (2012). Kinematics and kinetics of two different overhead throws: passing and pitching. Retrieved from http://textlab.io/doc/9359476/kinematics-and-kinetics-of-two-different-overhead-throws-
