Association between surfers' technical score and in-water and dryland biomechanical profile

Abstract

This dissertation focuses specifically on the biomechanics of shortboard surfing, trying to highlight trends, gaps and potential practical applications for athletes, coaches and researchers. For this case, the work was structured as an article-based dissertation, comprising two studies: a scoping review and an observational study. The scoping review aimed to use a systematic approach organizing the existing literature on surf biomechanics and evaluate the quality of the included studies. It was found that research on surfing biomechanics remains limited in volume and exhibits methodological heterogeneity. Although existing studies provide valuable insights into key performance actions, further high-quality and standardized research on performance phases (e.g., paddling, pop up, turns, aerials) and with different research designs (e.g., longitudinal, sex inclusive, ecologically designs integrating lab and in-water measures) is needed. The observational study aimed to compare the in-water and dryland biomechanical profiles of competitive surfers with different technical scores (< or ≥ than 1000 points) and to explore its association with performance. Surfers with a higher technical score showed high hand grip strength values and both peak and mean in-water forces, whereas the group with lower technical score showed a higher paddling efficiency. Using the pooled sample, the hand grip strength (R2 = 0.278), mean force (R2 = 0.502) emerged as the strongest predictors of surf performance from dryland and in-water domains, respectively. This highlights the importance to continue developing studies on shortboard surfing biomechanics and exploring other factors that can better explain technical scores in competition contexts.