Distribution of contact forces of a climber in typical rest positions

Sport climbing is becoming increasingly popular, but there is still a lack of specialized technologies and protocols for its quantitative analysis. In the present study, we chose two highly representative rest positions and we adopted task-specific force transducers to evaluate the distribution of contact forces at different wall angles (slab, vertical, overhang). We recruited 16 climbers who repeated coded sequences. We observed a consistent load transfer between the dominant hand and the feet varying the positions and the wall angles. Load transfer is predominantly homolateral as the wall angle changes, while load transfer is both contralateral and homolateral as the position changes. Further developments of the present study will include measurements of muscle activation, utilizing surface electromyography sensors.