How does the skeletal and muscular system work together to kick a ball

Kicking a football, whether you are referring to American football or soccer, requires the activation of several key muscle groups. These include the core, hips, thigh and lower legs. Learning which muscles are involved is important for perfecting your kicking ability, as this will focus your mind on the correct muscles and motion. It is also important to learn the anatomy of your muscles because, well, they are a part of you.

Core

Your core -- the rectus abdominis, obliques and erector spinae -- is activated when you kick a ball to keep your torso upright. The rectus abdominis and erector spinae work to avoid your torso from collapsing forward or toward the back. As for the obliques, they are activated so your torso does not fall over to either side. The collective actions of all these muscles results in a balanced torso position.

Hips

Your hips, particularly your hip flexors and extensors, play a major role during kicking. The hip extensors, such as the gluteus maximus of your butt and the hamstrings of your rear thighs, allow you to wind your leg back. This is one of the first steps of kicking and allows you to start generating the force necessary for the ensuing kick. To bring your leg forward the opposing muscles, called the hip flexors, are activated. These muscles include the iliopsoas, tensor fasciae latae and pectineus. All of these muscles are located at the front of your hips.

Thighs

As previously mentioned, the hamstrings allow you to extend your leg. After the leg wind up, you will bring your leg forward to the kick the ball. In addition to the contraction of your hip flexors, your large quadriceps muscles will be activated to extend your knee. This powerful muscle group will bring your lower leg forward so you can kick the ball. During this knee-extending motion, another front thigh muscle, called the sartorius, will work alongside your quadriceps to externally rotate your knee, so you can kick with the ball with the inside of your foot.

Lower Legs

The remaining muscles that are mainly involved while kicking a football are the triceps surae and tibialis anterior. The former muscle group is activated while you whip your leg back initially, and the latter muscle is activated when you bring your leg forward. The triceps surae extends your ankle in the first phase of the kick. The tibialis anterior flexes it during the second phase.

References

Writer Bio

Richard Choueiri is a fitness and nutrition expert and the author of "The Human Statue Workout." He began writing professionally in 2007 and his work has been featured in Bodybuilding.com and "Physique Magazine." Choueiri studied exercise science and nutritional science at Rutgers University. He holds an American College of Sports Medicine CPT, and a National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association CMMACC.

Image Credit

Cameron Spencer/Digital Vision/Getty Images

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A 4-year-old can manage to amble up and lightly tap a soccer ball, while an elite player can scorch it at 70 mph into the corner of the net past the goalkeeper’s extended hands. The strongest skeletal muscle in the body, the quadriceps, gets ample help from muscles elsewhere to create an explosive impact of shoe on ball and blast it so it can raise a team’s fortunes.

Stages

The biomechanics of kicking a soccer ball involves stages, beginning with the approach as you run up to the ball. Your plant foot digs into the ground a foot to the side of the ball, and the heel of your kicking foot swings back almost to touch the buttocks in a process called swing-limb loading. All that energy gathers as the hip flexes and knee extends, followed by foot contact with the ball and follow-through. Your torso leans back, and the kicking foot rises to around chest level.

Features

The knee extensors, which work to straighten the lower leg, display maximum eccentric activity, meaning activity while lengthening, during swing-limb loading. Your body prepares to transfer as much force as possible to the ball. The extensors next powerfully contract to swing the foot to the ball. At the time of foot contact, 15 percent of the energy of the swinging leg transfers to the ball, and your hamstring uses the rest to slow the limb down. Follow-through lengthens the time your foot stays in contact with the ball and serves to avoid injury as the forces of the kicking motion dissipate.

Muscular Actors

In a right-footed kick, the abdominals, erector spinae and psoas major stabilize the trunk. Right hip flexion or bending is controlled by the rectus femoris, the psoas, the iliacus, adductor group and sartorius, an oblique muscle on the inside of the thigh associated with sitting cross-legged. The extension of the left hip is guided by the largest muscle in the body, the gluteus. The powerful quadriceps extends the left and right knees, while the plantarflexors flex the right ankle. The anterior deltoid, biceps brachii and pectoralis major move the left shoulder toward the midline of the body. During follow-through, the hamstrings, gluteus and nearby piriformis rotate and extend the right hip, while the hamstring group flexes the right knee.

Supporting Factors

Sense organs within the joints, tendons and muscles provide information to the central nervous system about their motions, so the body can act on this feedback to control the joint angles and muscular involvement during the kick and address the ball correctly. The hips rotate through the front and horizontal planes. The knee typically goes through 140 degrees of flexion and extension. The arms, extended to the sides, work to help you keep your balance by placing your center of gravity over your support foot.

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