Enhanced boxing punch impact with silicone cushioning.

Elastic cushioning materials protect human tissue from injury by absorbing impact energy and delaying its transfer. However, the potential compromise in force delivery to the hitting target remains unknown. To examine if silicone cushioning compromises punch force delivery to a hitting target, a double-blind crossover trial with 12 elite boxers was conducted following material tests. Each boxer delivered five maximal punches under two conditions: silicone-hand wrapping and gauze-hand wrapping, in counterbalanced order, with a 3-day interval between sessions. Force distribution along the Z-axis indicated the punch's intended direction, while forces along the X and Y axes represented force dissipation toward unwanted direction. The material tests (based on ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA) demonstrated substantially higher compression to disruption for silicone than gauze of similar thickness. During the punching trials, the silicon-based hand wrapping exhibited slightly higher total force production (436 ± 33 N vs. 372 ± 12 N, The elastic cushion does not compromise the force delivery of the boxing glove to the hitting target. Instead, it appears to allow for additional maneuvering time for alignment during the fist-target contact with higher impact.

Informations de copyright

© 2024 Punthipayanon, Kwanboonchan, Rachanavy and Kuo.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The handling editor GC declared a past co-authorship with the author CH-K. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.