Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming XI

BiomechanicsandmedicineinswimmingXi
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Preface
Biomechancis and Medicine in Swimming.
40 Years of Swimming Science.
The local organizing committee for BMS2010 is proud to welcome the delegates of the XI
International Symposium for Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming. It is an honor for
us, for the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, and for Norway, to host this unique conference
and to present this Book of Proceedings. We feel that BMS XI is a reference work
which covers the central advances in aquatic science since BMS 2006 in Porto and of which
you will have considerable pleasure.
The International Symposium for Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming remains
the most prestigious of all aquatic oriented scientific congresses in the world. It has also
retained its’ high ideal of the classic peer review process, so essential to scientific progress.
Every submission has had the benefit of expert creative critique. Eleven times now, we have
presented cutting edge research in a variety of aquatic activities and sports. Each time the
challenge has been to present the best possible overview of the most important developments
in the four year period since the previous BMS symposium.
The first symposium was held in Brussels in 1970 and it has now been held in ten different
countries and on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, BMS has a unique place and a proud
tradition. The series of eleven published BMS Proceedings has formed the backbone of literature
in aquatic research for four decades. They are a collection of peer reviewed scientific
papers commanding considerable respect and serving as a valuable resource for all who are
interested in keeping up to date with aquatic research. Perhaps we should more properly
be called a gathering of experts in aquatic human movement. Since the laws of nature are
completely democratic, advances applied to one activity can also be applied to others. While
the majority of papers lie within biomechanics, physiology and training, others are growing
in popularity; sociology, education, psychology, anthropometry, epidemiology, drowning
prevention, special needs swimming, learn to swim, life saving, etc. - all are represented.
Its’ said that life begins at forty. We can thus expect the next forty years to be as brilliant
as the last forty. The first edition of the proceedings (1971) gathered an intellectually rich
mixture of the early pioneers, the established researchers and young, aspiring investigators.
It read like the Who’s Who of aquatic research, including the pioneers T.K. Cureton Jr. who
already in 1930 had published a biomechanical analysis of the crawl kick and Dr. Ernst
Jokl. It also included established researchers of the day such as Dr. James “Doc” Counsilman
who introduced us to Bernoulli’s principle as a possible explanation for propulsion in
swimming and Dr. Per-Olof Åstrand who introduced the first swimming mill or flume. Dr.
Leon Lewillie and Dr. Barthels and Dr. Adrian introduced underwater electromyography.
Dr. Mitsumasa Miyashita and Dr. Richard Nelson presented, at that time, sophisticated
analyses of the crawl.
A systematic attempt to broaden the base of BMS characterized the Oslo meeting. Areas
previously less well represented are present in larger numbers than ever before. This
was extremely satisfying to us and we hope that the BMS family will continue this tradition.
There are really three principles here which are important. Firstly, the quality of the
research is what counts, not the activity to which it is applied. Secondly, by including more
academic disciplines and aquatic activities, a far greater degree of cross-fertilization of ideas
is possible. To give an obvious example, the biomechanical techniques applied to analyze
competitive swimming can also be used to analyze recreational swimming, learn to swim,
water polo and life saving. And thirdly, multi-disciplinary research will grow. We know that
this is where reality is best mirrored.
The BMS Symposium 2010 includes 127 poster presentations, 125 oral presentations,
three workshops and four poolside demonstrations. Also, nine keynote speakers presented
outstanding lectures to the audience. The keynote speakers Dr. Stephen Langendorfer, Dr.