Evaluating the Performance of the Wushu Athletes by Measuring the Movement Pattern Complexity

Multiplicity of degrees of freedom in biological systems is the source of variability and indicates their health، flexibility، and their ability to cope with different individual، environmental، and task constraints. From nonlinear dynamical systems، their perspective of the variability of a system، can be quantified by measuring the movement pattern complexity. In this study the ability of this measure in evaluating the adroitness of martial art Wushu performers in different postural maneuvers and in discriminating the groups were investigated. Wushu sportsmen، who were invited to Iranian national team، participated in the study. They were divided into two groups and their performance along anatomical directions while doing different maneuvers was investigated. The results showed a statistically noticeable difference between the groups in anterior-posterior direction while there was no significant difference along mediolateral direction. The results also indicated considerable differences between the maneuvers. The results revealed that the measures originating from nonlinear dynamics well quantify between and within groups differences and provide new insights into underlying movement control strategies.