Exercise Physiology - the basketball foul shot

Exercise Physiology – The Basketball Foul Shot

1. The Skeletal System
The Basketball foul shot is used when a player is fouled whilst shooting, and is given two free shots without defence. In order for a player to perform the foul shot, the axial skeleton (consisting of: the skull, the spine, and the thorax) and the appendicular skeleton (consisting of: the shoulder girdle, arms, wrists, hands, legs and feet) need to work together in order to gain the best result from the shot.

In the body, there are three different types of joints. There are fibrous joints, cartilagenous joints, and synovial joints. Fibrous joints are located within the axial skeleton where bones are joined together by fibrous tissues and no movement is allowed. Cartilagenous joints are located in the spine (see figure 1) (these bones are known as irregular bones) between each vertabra where movement is at a minimal. Synovial joints main feature is the amount of mobility that is allowed. Synovial joints also...