Biomechanical comparison of backhand topspin against backspin between different level table tennis athletes using QUALSYS infrared acquisition

Abstract The technique of backhand topspin against backspin is important for table tennis players to gain more advantages in the confrontation. In this paper, a biomechanical analysis of backhand topspin against backspin was conducted with varsity and non‐varsity male table tennis players from Zhejiang Changzheng Vocational and Technical College. The QUALISYS infrared acquisition system collected the changes in the athletes’ limb movements, and the force platform collected the changes in the athletes’ limb moments in the ball striking process. The results showed that professionally trained athletes were able to achieve greater joint angles and provide greater torques to the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints at the moment of batting. The main purpose of this paper is to provide data reference for the improvement of backhand stroke technique by studying the pattern of limb movements of players when they perform backhand stroke. In summary, in order to improve the backhand technique of hitting backspin, athletes need to focus on training the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints to achieve greater variations of angles and greater torques. The novelty of this paper is collecting the body movements of backhand strokes in a more concise and fast way with the QUALISYS infrared acquisition system.