Background and Aims: Archery is a precision sport that requires postural stability and control of hand tremor during aiming. Hand tremor, which manifests as involuntary movements, can lead to a decline in sports performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the amplitude and frequency of hand tremor and shooting accuracy in amateur recurve archers.
Materials and Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted on 12 novice recurve archers (aged 18 years and older). Participants performed a simulated competition test consisting of 60 arrows shot at a distance of 18 meters. Hand tremor at the elbow and wrist joints of both hands was recorded during the aiming phase using a six-camera 3D motion analysis system. The recorded motion data were processed using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in MATLAB software. Based on the output of this analysis, indices such as peak frequency and median power frequency were calculated to examine frequency components, and RMS was computed to assess tremor amplitude. Finally, shooting accuracy and tremor parameters were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient.
Results: The results showed that tremor amplitude, particularly in the right hand, was significantly associated with lower accuracy. Additionally, higher-frequency tremors in both hands were directly associated with better archery performance.
Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrated significant associations between hand tremor characteristics and shooting accuracy in amateur recurve archers. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of performance stability and may be useful in the development of training and performance-monitoring strategies in archery.
