Waldorf resident among UMES golf researchers

Friday, July 3, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo University of Maryland Eastern Shore physical therapy doctoral students Lorraine Lacoppola of New York, left, Erin Ruest of Waldorf, and Katherine Long James of Salisbury presented research at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Seattle. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Third-year doctoral students of physical therapy at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore recently presented a research paper, "The Relationship Between Range of Motion, Performance and Club-Head Speed in Older Female Golfers" at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Seattle.

Among the students presenting research was Erin Ruest of Waldorf.

An abstract outlining the research methods and results was also published in the May issue of the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal.

According to Mike Rabel, assistant professor and research advisor in the Department of Physical Therapy at UMES, the investigators measured club-head speed in addition to trunk, shoulder and hip range of motion in a group of 28 healthy, amateur female golfers between 49and 86.

Faster club-head speeds were directly associated with the ability to drive the ball farther.