INTRODUCTION

In recent years, in-line skating has become a very popular alternative to ice-skating. More and more people each year take part in the sport as both a recreational activity as well as a very productive form of exercise. Along with the increase in popularity comes an increase in the amount of related injuries. The more than 12 million Americans that have taken up the sport have accounted for more than 76,000 emergency room visits (Hutchinson et al, 1998). The physical acts of ice-skating and in-line skating are very close and as a group we intend to determine if the different motions involved with the two separate movements lead to different types and/or amount of injuries.

We intend to compare and contrast the movements that can potentially cause injury in ice-skating and in-line skating. One female subject will be filmed taking part in both activities with joint markers encompassing the wrist, elbow and acromion process, as well as lateral sides of the hip pointer, knee and right above the ankle (the skate covers the actual ankle joint). Contrasting the different movements will help us get a better sense of if or why the different motions lead to different injuries.