A Biomechanical Study Of The Impact Of The Length Of Trekking Pole On Climbing Actions

With the implementation of "Healthy China" strategy and the promotion of "Nationwide Health" concept,the concept of nationwide fitness enjoys growing popular support.Nowadays,the means of fitness are diversifying.In particular,outdoor mountain-climbing that is both a sport and tour receives growing attention and is participated by an increasing number of people.As outdoor mountain-climbing enjoys rapid development and participants increase sharply,the safety issues of mountain-climbing has been the key determining whether the sport enjoys healthy development.According to survey findings,mountain-climbing accidents happen mostly for two reasons,including the damage of human joints and accidental fall.In the final analysis,both reasons result from the instability of climbing actions.Foreign studies have shown that a trekking pole plays an important role in decreasing the pressure on lower limbs and reducing damage from sports.Unfortunately,few domestic and foreign studies focus on the impact of trekking poles on the stability of climbing actions at home and abroad.It is necessary that scholars study this regard to make up for the blank.In addition,opinions concerning the methods of adjusting the length of a trekking pole vary and lack specific scientific proof.As a result,a trekking pole with an inappropriate length can hardly play its role.Hence scientific methods of adjusting the length of trekking poles are crucial to reduce the injuries caused by mountain climbing.In this experiment,research objects were organized to climb stairs to simulate mountain-climbers' actions in the climbing process.Five control variables were introduced to study how the length of a trekking pole affect the climbing actions,namely carrying no weight,carrying 10% of BW and three trekking poles with varied lengths.Two Sony HDR-XR550 cameras and KISTLER 3-D force platform were used to collect the dynamic and kinematic data of the climbing actions when 30 common young climbers(including 15 females and 15 males)climbed the stairs with the trekking poles of different length.SimiMotion 8.0 action analysis system and Bioware force platform data analysis software were used to analyze experiment data.The MANOVA method was adopted to analyze how the trekking poles with varied length affect mountain-climbing actions under different weights from two perspectives,including the stability of mountain-climbing actions and reducing the stress on lower limbs.The study eventually drew the following four conclusions.1.Using trekking poles under no weight and 10% of BW enhances the stability of experimental objects' mountain-climbing actions in the climbing process.2.In the condition of carrying no weight,using the mountain climbing poles with standard length or-10% length is more favorable for experimental objects to reduce the stress on lower limbs and enhance the stability of mountain-climbing actions.3.In the condition of carrying 10% of BW,using the mountain climbing poles with standard length or-10% length is more favorable for experimental objects to reduce the stress on lower limbs and enhance the stability of mountain-climbing actions.4.The current method of adjusting the length of trekking poles is more suitable to research objects' mountain-climbing activity under no weight.It is advised to shorten the trekking pole when climbing under weight,so as to better reduce the stress on lower limps and enhance the stability of mountain-climbing actions.