The Effect of Fatigue on the Kinematics of Free Throw Shooting in Basketball

Fatigue is an indispensible part of a basketball game which may affect an athlete's shooting kinematics. Although kinematic analyses of various sports related movements were extensively done, this study is the first to consider the effects of fatigue on the kinematics of free throw shooting. After measuring the resting heart rate, ten collegiate level, male basketball players (21.8 +/- 1.6 y; 192.8 +/- 3.6 cm; 84.1 +/- 8.5 kg) were asked to perform free throws. Two successful and two unsuccessful free throws were selected. Thereafter, participants were asked to complete the fatigue protocol, which included 30m sprints and 5 vertical jumps at each end, until they reached volitional exhaustion. Additional two successful and two unsuccessful free throws were collected. All shots were recorded by using two digital cameras operating at 60 Hz and placed in a stereoscopic view. The elbow, trunk, knee and ankle joint angles were measured before and after the ball release and at the ball release point. The selected joint angles were compared between successful and unsuccessful free throws, as well as before and after the completion of fatigue protocol. The results demonstrated that fatigue did not effect free throw shooting kinematics (p>0.05) and there was no significant joint angle difference between successful and unsuccessful shots (p>0.05). This study suggested that high level athletes are able to cope with the possible detrimental effects of fatigue while performing coordinated movements such as free throw shooting.