Dr. David Q.

Thomas
http://www.castonline.ilstu.edu/Thomas/


Credit goes to Dr. McCaw for his contributions
to these slides.


Traditional teaching and coaching methods
tell you what techniques to teach or coach

Biomechanics tells you why those techniques
are best to teach or coach

It can also tell you why some teaching and
coaching techniques dont work and need to
be discontinued

AT, OT, and PT students will benefit from
learning biomechanics because it will help in:
determining the cause of injury,
aid in preventing future injury,
and guide in determining best methods for
rehabilitation.

Exercise science students will learn the best
techniques for improving fitness and
enhancing exercise performance
PETE students will learn how to make
instructional decisions based on the science
of human movement
I will provide you with
Concept
Examples

You need to come up with
Application
How does this concept apply to:
Physical Education Teacher Education?
Exercise Science?
Athletic Training?
Kines: Latin ==> motion

logos: study of

Kinesiology = Study of Motion
Includes:
Anatomy & Physiology
Psychology
Motor Development
Pedagogy
Biomechanics
Exercise Physiology
Athletic Training

Bio = life

Mechanics - study of machines

Biomechanics - study of living machines
Statics
-at rest
-constant velocity
Kinematics
-description of motion
Kinetics
-study of the forces that cause
or tend to cause the
changes in motion
Dynamics
-changing motion (acceleration)
Rigid Body
Mechanics
science concerned with
effects of forces acting
on a system (body)
We study biomechanics to understand how
people move

This information may be used to enhance
performance by improving technique

It may also be used to lower the risk for injury
Enhance skill performance
Technique improvement
Improve current technique (shooting a foul shot)
Develop new technique (Fosbury Flop, swim hand
recovery, skating in X-country skiing, ski jumping)
Equipment improvement
Shoes and apparel
Implements
Protection devices
Training improvement
Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Techniques to reduce injury
Equipment designs to reduce injury
To understand how living bodies can
move.
To understand how people can move.
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
elite athletes
USOC, WNBA, MLB, etc
Biomechanics in the Olympics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csrb-
GCUxzg&feature=related


An example using anthropometrics
Study of the bodys size and form
This would include measurements of:
Height
Weight
Circumferences
Skinfolds
Girths/diameters
Etc

Ave Average Hand/Ht Hand Ball hand/ball
Ht Ht (inches) Ratio Length Size (inches) ratio
Male 6'7'' 79 0.108 8.53 29.625 0.288
Female 6' 72 0.108 7.78 28.625 0.272
Average NBAers hand is 28.8% of ball length
Average WNBAers hand is 27.2% of ball length
How big should the WNBA ball be to equate males & females?
7.78/0.288 = 27.014 inches
To allow for comparisons
Strength

Males
Versus
Females
Destroy myths
Can a
cow
really
jump over
the
moon?
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~dmason/probs/mech/work/cow
moon/cowmoon.html
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
physical challenges
ACL deficit
CP gait
Wheelchair
Age-related disease
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
physical challenges
ACL deficit
CP gait
Wheelchair
Age-related disease
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
Physical development
To understand how
people can move.
To enhance
skill performance
Improve equipment
B
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To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
Not limited to humans
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
To lower the risk for injury
Exercise equipment & technique
shoes & surfaces
braces & orthotics
Equine biomechanics

http://www.equinemechanics.com/
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
To lower the risk for injury
Automobiles
collisions
http://collisionresearchltd.com/index.php

To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
To lower the risk for injury
Automobiles
collisions
To understand how people can move.

Vsevolod
Meyerholds
Biomechanical
Theatre
1920s
To understand how people can move.
Borelli
Borellis major scientific achievements are focused around his investigation
into biomechanics. This work originated with his studies of animals. His
publications, De Motu Animalium I and De Motu Animalium II, relate animals
to machines and utilize mathematics to prove his theories. The anatomists of
the 17th century were the first to suggest the contractile movement of
muscles. Borelli, however, first suggested that muscles do not exercise vital
movement otherwise than by contracting. He was also the first to deny
corpuscular influence on the movements of muscles. This was proven
through his scientific experiments demonstrating that living muscle did not
release corpuscles into water when cut. Borelli also recognized that forward
motion entailed movement of a bodys center of gravity forward, which was
then followed by the swinging of its limbs in order to maintain balance. His
studies also extended beyond muscle and locomotion. In particular he
likened the action of the heart to that of a piston. For this to work properly
he derived the idea that the arteries have be elastic. For these discoveries,
Borelli is labeled as the father of modern biomechanics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Alfonso_Borelli

To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
To lower the risk for injury
To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
To lower the risk for
injury

To understand how people can move.
To enhance skill performance
To lower the risk for injury
Some of us are not
doing a good job
Coach: focus on
strategy
Teaching
skills: farm system
vs
fitness: CV &
strength
Cater to the converted.
Serve the skilled.
We treat symptoms of
an injury, with less
emphasis on etiology
(cause) of an injury
placebo effect vs true
treatment effects
high rate of reoccurrence
Safety & Performance Trade-Off
Quantitative analysis - mainly a clinical
research perspective.

Qualitative analysis - most teachers/coaches
need this ability.

Science concerned with the effects of forces
acting on objects (body)
body: focus of the analysis
human body
individual body segment
specific tissue / anatomical site
balls, pucks
implement: bat, stick, club



Science concerned with the effects of forces
acting on objects (body)
Rigid-body mechanics
Deformable body mechanics
Fluid mechanics
Relativistic mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Acceptable for analyzing gross movements
Assumptions
body does not deform by bending, stretching or
compressing
segments are rigid links joined by frictionless
hinges at joints
Statics
-at rest
-constant velocity
Kinematics
-description of motion
Kinetics
-study of the forces that cause
or tend to cause the
changes in motion
Dynamics
-changing motion (acceleration)
Rigid Body
Mechanics
Length - of what size?
Time - of what duration?
Mass - how much matter?
Inertia - what resistance to movement?

Describe someone out for a run
Describe someone out for a run
Kinematics
How far did she run?
How long to run that far?
How fast was she?
How big is she?
Kinetics
What friction under her feet?
What forces on her joints?
What tension in her muscles?
Measure to describe
location at a particular point in her run
how far she ran

Feet, inches, miles
Systeme Internationale dUnites (SI)
meter
1 m = 3.28 feet = 39 inches
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/

Measure to describe how long it takes her

seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years
Systeme Internationale dUnites (SI)
second (s)
Space to move in and time during which to
move

speed & velocity==> length per unit of time
miles per hour
m / s or m
.
sec
-1


acceleration
m/s/s or m
.
sec
-1 .
sec
-1
Inertia
resistance to a change in state of motion

Who is harder to start or stop moving
Olympic weight lifter
Olympic gymnast
Inertia
resistance to a change in state of motion

Who is harder to start or stop moving
Olympic weight lifter: has more inertia
Olympic gymnast
Inertia
resistance to a change in state of motion
Mass
the quantity of matter a body possesses
quantifies inertia (the measure of inertia)
Greater mass, greater inertia
resistance to change state of motion
units are kilogram (kg) or slug (English)
Not the same as weight
Provide an example of changing motion in
sport
exercise
workplace
Provide an example of changing motion in
Sport: size expectations of different positions (i.e.
interior defensive linemen)

Exercise: alter mass to be moved to increase load
on NMS system (i.e. push-up)

Workplace: alter mass of components to reduce
load (i.e. cement bags, engine blocks)
Length
Time
Mass




Force: defined from the above
a push or pull acting on a body

All that is needed to describe
and explain the motion of objects
Biomechanics
Lab at ISU

Research
Not to know is bad.
Not to wish to know
is worse.