A day of social and sporting significance was held today at the Unipolar Spinal Unit of the Santa Corona Hospital in Pietra Ligure with the presence of the archer of the golden flames Cinzia Noziglia, recent individual and team gold medal at the European Indoor Championships and record holder in the specialty of the naked bow. The Italian athlete lent his participation in the research project “Biomechanics of archery: advanced analysis techniques for the characterization of movement and muscle activity in archers with spinal cord injuries and able-bodied”. Also present were some representatives of the Italian Archery Federation (FITARCO) and some people who practice this sport who have been able to get to know the champion up close.
“Archery is known to be a sport suitable for everyone, regardless of age, gender or skill. It is a physical activity that requires short bursts of energy from the core muscles, the act of pulling a bow strains the chest, hands, arms and large muscles of the upper back and the rotator cuffs, which support shoulders. The correct and continuous repetition of this movement strengthens these tissues. Therefore, it is suitable for people with reduced mobility, allowing them to continue moving and to train those muscle groups above the level of the spinal cord injury – they explain to Santa Corona -, Over the years, most of the research in Archery biomechanics focused on the study of able-bodied archers with different levels of experience, placing emphasis on the analysis of muscle activations during this gesture; the references that jointly describe both the kinematic and muscular aspects in this discipline are, on the other hand, still limited. At the same time, there is no complete characterization of this sporting gesture that describes, separately and at the same time, the kinematics and muscle activations in myelolysis subjects “.
The research project that today involved Cinzia Noziglia employs advanced analytical techniques to investigate movement and muscle activations during archery in order to characterize the kinematics and muscle strategies adopted by athletes with and without movement disorders. . The project is carried out with the collaboration of the Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering (DIBRIS) of the University of Genoa and the Spinal Cord Italian Lab (SCIL) as well as other research, care and innovation projects active at the Spinal Unit of Pietra Ligure.
“Beautiful initiative that confirms the commitment of all the operators of this structure which represents an important national reference and a great clinical and rehabilitative resource for people with spinal cord injury” is the comment of Dr. Marco Damonte Prioli, general manager of ASL 2.