ABSTRACT
Biomechanical analysis of racket sports (badminton, squash, table tennis and tennis) is undertaken to identify those mechanical characteristics that affect both performance and risk of injury. One of the main areas of application is the technique used by players while playing shots. The advance of technology in recent years has enabled detailed threedimensional kinematic and kinetic characteristics of racket skills to be established and has enabled biomechanists to investigate the underlying mechanisms used in performing racket skills. Although there are interacting factors that are more related to the mechanical behaviour of the racket, ball, surface and environment, these are beyond the scope of this overview, which will be restricted to the application of biomechanics to the understanding of technique in racket sports and the implications for performance and injury prevention.
