Hip rotational velocities during the full golf swing

Since labral pathology in professional golfers has been reported,and such pathology has been associated with internal/externalhip rotation, quantifying the rotational velocity of the hips duringthe golf swing may be helpful in understanding the mechanisminvolved in labral injury. thus, the purpose of this studywas to determine the peak internal/external rotational velocitiesof the thigh relative to the pelvis during the golf swing. fifteenfemale, collegiate golfers participated in the study. data wereacquired through high-speed three dimensional (3-d) videographyusing a multi-segment bilateral marker set to define thesegments, while the subjects completed multiple repetitions of adrive. the results indicated that the lead hip peak internal rotationalvelocity was significantly greater than that of the trail hipexternal rotational velocity (p = 0.003). it appears that the leadhip of a golfer experiences much higher rotational velocitiesduring the downswing than that of the trail hip. in other structures,such as the shoulder, an increased risk of soft tissue injuryhas been associated with high levels of rotational velocity. thismay indicate that, in golfers, the lead hip may be more susceptibleto injury such as labral tears than that of the trailing hip.