Abstract
Many people have played cornhole before, whether it be at college or for fun at family events. Everyone has a method of playing, but does the stance affect accuracy and force? PURPOSE: This study was to find out if a contralateral stance is more accurate than an ipsilateral stance. We also wanted to test whether an ipsilateral stance had more muscle activation than a contralateral stance. METHODS: For this study, we tested a total of 10 participants all ranging from ages 18-26 both male and female. We then placed EMGs on each participant's bicep, tricep, and anterior deltoid muscles on their right arm. After attaching the EMGs to the participant they then were told to stand ipsilaterally or contralaterally to throw 4 cornhole bags at the cornhole board from 27 feet. When all 4 throws were completed, we gathered the data from the EMG readings as well as the placement of the cornhole bags on, off, or inside the hole of the board to measure accuracy. Once the results were gathered, we then had them stand in the opposite stance and repeat. RESULTS: The force for the contralateral step averaged out to be 0.207. The ipsilateral step force averaged out to be 0.195. Yet the force for the ipsilateral step tricep is significantly higher than the contralateral step tricep. That said, the numbers were similar. The bicep is 0.110 for ipsilateral and 0.125 for contralateral. The deltoids are significantly higher than the bicep and tricep readings: 0.422 for the ipsilateral step and 0.453 for the contralateral step. The accuracy for each step was also recorded during this time. Three options were decided for every throw: Off the board, On the board, and in the hole. These were also assigned numbers, off the board being 0, on the board being 0.5, and in the hole being 1. With these numbers, the first throws gave an average of 0.05 for ipsilateral and 0.15 for contralateral. The second throw averages 0.20 for ipsilateral and 0.25 for contralateral. The third throw gave an average of 0.25 for ipsilateral and 0.40 for contralateral. Finally, the last throw gave 0.15 for both ipsilateral and contralateral. The most prevalent score was Off the board (0) for both steps. The average score for ipsilateral is 0.16 and the contralateral average is 0.24. CONCLUSION: The results we recorded proved one of our hypotheses correct. That hypothesis being that the contralateral step was more accurate than the ipsilateral step by .08 or 8%. Our other hypothesis was rejected which predicted that the ipsilateral stance was going to produce more force than the contralateral stance. The ipsilateral stance had an average muscle activation of .195 and the contralateral had an average of .207 when using the EMGs. With our results we found that contralateral stance is more accurate and has more muscle activation than the ipsilateral stance.
Recommended Citation
Strother, Reagan M.; Martinez, Jay X.; Huggins, Heaton R.; Vaughn, Jutty D.; and Chelette, Amber M.
(2025)
"Force & Accuracy for an Ipsilateral vs Contralateral Stance in a Cornhole Throw,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2:
Iss.
17, Article 170.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss17/170
