The Effect of Dart-Throwing Practice with Non-Dominant Arm on Transfer Percentage of Throwing Accuracy, Variability, and Movement Coordination of the Dominant Arm

This study aimed to investigate the effect of dart-throwing training with the non-dominant arm on the transfer percentage of dart-throwing accuracy, variability, and movement coordination of the dominant arm.

In a Quasi-experimental design, 24 eligible students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. During 12 sessions, the experimental group threw darts with the non-dominant arm in five blocks of 10 trials, and the control group did not practice. The Noraxon IMU device was used to check the coordination and variability of the limb in the pre-test and post-test, and the radial error criterion was used to measure the accuracy. Variability and coordination data were analyzed using the SPM programming model in the MATLAB environment, and a two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze behavior data at a significance level of 0.05.

Radial error had a significant decrease of 27% (P=0.002) and the movement variability of the dominant arm showed a significant reduction in the range of 20 to 50% of movement after training (P<0.05); However, there was no significant difference in movement coordination in the experimental group after the training sessions (P>0.05). As a result, the transfer percentage of dart-throwing accuracy increased in the experimental group.

This research showed the transition from the non-dominant to the dominant limb. The accuracy of throwing darts in the dominant arm increased, which was accompanied by a decrease in the movement variability of the participant's dominant arm. Therefore, coaches and therapists are advised to prevent a decline in individuals' performance by training non-dominant limbs in case of dominant limb injury.