{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,6]],"date-time":"2026-09-06T11:12:40Z","timestamp":1788693160028,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,21]],"date-time":"2021-12-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1640044800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Tug-of-war (TOW) is an internationally played activity including professional and amateur athletes, defined as early as 4000 years ago (as a rope-less version) in the artwork on Egyptian tomb engravings, and is played as per the rules laid out by TWIF, which has 73 member countries and administrative headquarters in the USA. Typically, two teams of \u201cpullers\u201d participate and apply enormous contra directional forces on the pulling rope. Originally, two types of competition are used: knockout and points. This narrative review describes the scientific state of the art of TOW. To the best of the authors\u2019 knowledge, no previous information has been published on this topic. Anthropometric parameters for competitors are near 83.6, lean body mass 69.4, and body fat 16. The VO2MAX is 55.8 mL\/kg\/min. In terms of relative strength, the dynamic leg power is 4659.8 N. Endurance TOW elicits minimal muscle damage. Injured strains and sprains comprised over half of all injuries: back (42%), shoulder\u2013upper limb (23%) and knee (17%). Pulling movement in TOW contests can be divided into three phases, namely the \u201cdrop\u201d, \u201chold\u201d and \u201cdrive\u201d phases. The maximal pulling force was 1041.6 \u00b1 123.9 N. The percentage of dynamic pulling force in the static maximal pulling force was 75.5 \u00b1 14.4% and the dynamic ranged from 106.4 to 182.5%. There are two gripping styles: indoor and outdoor. The friction characteristics between surface and shoe in TOW is important in determining a suitable shoe for indoor TOW. A waist belt might be a useful piece of equipment for TOW sport. The EMG technique in TOW entails a high degree of dorsal muscle activity during the pulling. The factor of force vanishing was the coordination among athletes. The force vanishing percentage goes from 8.82 \u00b1 5.59 for two contenders to 19.74 \u00b1 2.22 for eight athletes, 6.4% in the sum of two pullers. However, in the drop phase, for female elite TOW team, only the 0.5% of the pulling force was wasted. Future studies are need in order to understand better this historical sport activity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19010003","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,21]],"date-time":"2021-12-21T04:35:57Z","timestamp":1640061357000},"page":"3","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Analysis of Tug of War Competition: A Narrative Complete Review"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6461-1693","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruth","family":"Cayero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country, (UPV\/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valent\u00edn","family":"Rocandio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country, (UPV\/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asier","family":"Zubillaga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country, (UPV\/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6450-2454","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ignacio","family":"Refoyo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AFIPE Research Group, Technical University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2575-7168","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julio","family":"Calleja-Gonz\u00e1lez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country, (UPV\/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4568-320X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arkaitz","family":"Casta\u00f1eda-Babarro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Health, Physical Activity and Sports Science Laboratory, Department of Physical Activity and Sports, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Deusto, 48007 Bilbao, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Inmaculada","family":"Mart\u00ednez de Aldama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country, (UPV\/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1034\/j.1600-0838.2002.120209.x","article-title":"Tug of war: Introduction to the sport and an epidemiological injury study among elite pullers","volume":"12","author":"Smith","year":"2002","journal-title":"Scand J. 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