Is there a biomechanical difference between throwing a dart with the dominant versus non-dominant arm? Our in-depth analysis indicated that there were only slight differences between the two movements.
Our results showed that there are differences in precision movements between dominant and non-dominant arms. The major differences found between the two movements were in the timing of horizontal wrist displacement and the total movement time. These results suggest that other throwing motions may also be subject to unilateral dominance. For example, throwing an object such as a baseball or softball may be different between dominant and non-dominant arms. However, studies show that training in non-dominant arm movements improves the precision and accuracy of a given throwing motion (Dietz, 1976). Differences between the dominant and non-dominant dart throws may indicate a variation in the amount of force applied by each arm. Research has shown a positive correlation between force and precision errors, since there exists a speed-accuracy tradeoff when throwing darts (Etnyre, 1998). Therefore, the slight differences in the dominant and non-dominant dart throws can be influenced by many factors, including training and applied force.
Our observations of the dart throw has many limitations. First, our subject has little experience using his non-dominant arm for any precision movements. This fact alone may account for the differences found between the two movements. In addition, the amount of experience the subject possessed throwing darts may have been a determining factor in the results. In our study, our subject had little experience throwing darts. A further study of this kind would involve many subjects with varying experience in a specific precision movement. This would rule out the possibility of experience as a factor in determining how the movement is performed. In addition, it may be helpful to use subjects of both right and left arm dominance to observe possible differences in arm dominance on dart trajectory.
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