What is Biomechanics?

Summary

This introductory video to biomechanics explores the science of movement in living organisms. It delves into the physics of motion, examining external and internal forces, and how they relate to the body's mechanics. The video connects biomechanics with other kinesiology fields, emphasizing its importance in sports, physical therapy, and everyday movement. It also touches on the role of biomechanics in understanding and improving movement patterns, from athletic performance to motor development and rehabilitation.

Takeaways

• 🔬 Biomechanics is the science of movement of the living body, combining 'bio' for life and 'mechanics' for machines.
• 🤔 It is a highly integrated field that studies forces acting upon, within, and produced by the body, including external and internal forces.
• 📚 Biomechanics integrates biological characteristics with traditional mechanics, focusing on the physics of motion in biological systems.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Mechanics is a branch of physics concerned with forces and energy affecting the motion of bodies, including Newton's laws of motion.
• 🔄 The field includes both statics, studying systems in equilibrium, and dynamics, examining systems in accelerated or changing motion.
• 👀 Biomechanical analysis can be performed from two perspectives: kinetics, examining forces affecting motion, and kinematics, analyzing spatial and temporal aspects of movement.
• 🏃‍♂️ Kinematics focuses on motion characteristics like velocity and displacement, while kinetics evaluates the effects of forces such as gravity and friction on motion.
• 👶 Outside of sports, biomechanics is crucial for understanding normal gait cycles, motor development, and motor control in various stages of life.
• 🔗 Biomechanics is closely related to other kinesiology disciplines like exercise physiology, motor control, and physical therapy, all of which involve human movement.
• 🔄 Open and closed loop skills are important concepts in biomechanics, with the former being too fast for feedback to alter the movement, and the latter allowing for real-time adjustments based on feedback.
• 🔄 The neuromuscular system links disciplines like exercise physiology and biomechanics, as muscles are the force-producing factors under nervous system control that affect movement.

Q & A

What is the definition of biomechanics?

Biomechanics is the science of movement of the living body, combining biological characteristics with traditional mechanics to examine forces acting upon, within, and produced by the body.

How does biomechanics relate to other fields within kinesiology?

Biomechanics is highly related to other kinesiology disciplines such as exercise physiology, motor control, and physical therapy, as all these fields involve the study of human movement.

What are the two main perspectives of biomechanical analysis?

The two main perspectives of biomechanical analysis are kinetics, which studies the forces affecting motion, and kinematics, which examines the spatial and temporal characteristics of motion.

What is the difference between statics and dynamics in mechanics?

Statics is the study of systems in a state of equilibrium, while dynamics is the study of systems in a state of accelerated or changing motion.

How is biomechanics applied in sports?

In sports, biomechanics helps analyze movement patterns to prevent injuries, improve performance, and understand the effects of forces on the body during various athletic activities.

What is an example of a kinematic perspective in analyzing a sports injury?

A kinematic perspective would involve analyzing the velocity and displacement of an athlete at the moment of injury, such as how fast a basketball player was moving when they landed and injured their ankle.

What is the relationship between biomechanics and exercise physiology?

Biomechanics focuses on the movement caused by the contraction of skeletal muscles, while exercise physiology is concerned with the physiological processes behind those muscle contractions that produce force and motion.

What are open and closed loop skills in the context of biomechanics?

Open loop skills are movements that occur faster than feedback can change, like a clean-and-jerk in weightlifting. Closed loop skills can be modified while in motion based on feedback, such as adjusting stride while running.

How does biomechanics play a role in ergonomics?

Biomechanics helps design a better human-machine interface in ergonomics, ensuring that tools and environments are designed to reduce the risk of injury and improve comfort and efficiency in the workplace.

What is the role of biomechanics in physical therapy?

In physical therapy, biomechanics is crucial for diagnosing the underlying causes of movement disorders and designing interventions to improve movement patterns and reduce pain.

How does biomechanics contribute to the field of sports medicine?

Biomechanics in sports medicine helps understand how equipment like ankle braces or taping affects normal human motion and potentially influences performance and injury risk.

What is the significance of biomechanics in the study of adaptive motion for individuals with disabilities?

Biomechanics is essential in adaptive motion to understand the biomechanical implications of various disabilities and to modify equipment, pedagogy, and movement patterns to suit the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Outlines

00:00

🔬 Introduction to Biomechanics

This paragraph introduces the concept of biomechanics as the science of movement in living organisms. It explains the term 'biomechanics' as a combination of 'bio' (life) and 'mechanics' (machines), emphasizing the study of forces and motion within biological systems. The paragraph delves into the physics of motion, discussing external and internal forces, and how biomechanics integrates these with traditional mechanics. It also touches on the relationship between biomechanics and other kinesiology disciplines, highlighting the importance of Newton's laws in understanding motion. The paragraph concludes with an introduction to kinetics and kinematics, the two perspectives from which biomechanical analysis can be performed.

05:01

🤸‍♂️ Biomechanics in Various Fields of Kinesiology

This paragraph explores the relevance of biomechanics in different areas of kinesiology, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and sports. It discusses how biomechanics is interconnected with other disciplines like exercise physiology, motor control, and motor learning, emphasizing the role of the neuromuscular system in movement. The paragraph also explains the concepts of open and closed loop skills, using examples from weightlifting and running to illustrate how feedback can influence movement. Ergonomics is introduced as the study of human-machine interfaces, aiming to prevent injuries and improve work quality and life. The paragraph concludes by discussing the practical application of biomechanics in physical therapy, focusing on the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of movement abnormalities.

10:02

🏋️‍♀️ Practical Applications of Biomechanics in Sports and Rehabilitation

This paragraph focuses on the practical applications of biomechanics in sports medicine, physical therapy, pedagogy, and adaptive motion. It discusses how athletic trainers use biomechanics to prevent and treat sports injuries, considering the effects of equipment like ankle braces on movement patterns. The paragraph also touches on how biomechanics can inform teaching and coaching strategies, providing better feedback for learners based on their proficiency levels. Additionally, it addresses the growing field of adaptive motion, which involves modifying pedagogy and equipment to accommodate individuals with disabilities, ensuring they can participate in sports and exercise effectively. The paragraph concludes by summarizing biomechanics as the study of motion in biological systems, highlighting its interdisciplinary nature and its importance in analyzing and improving human movement.

Keywords

💡Biomechanics

Biomechanics is the science of movement of the living body, combining the study of biological systems with the principles of mechanics. It is integral to understanding how forces act upon, within, and are produced by the body, which is central to the video's theme. For example, the script discusses how biomechanics examines forces like ground reaction forces and muscle forces in the context of movement.

💡Kinesiology

Kinesiology is the study of human movement, and biomechanics is a key discipline within it. The video explains that biomechanics fits within the broader umbrella of kinesiology, which includes other fields such as exercise physiology and motor control. Kinesiology is important for understanding the script's exploration of movement and its analysis.

💡Mechanics

Mechanics, a branch of physics, is concerned with the forces and energy related to the motion of bodies. In the context of the video, mechanics is combined with 'bio' to form biomechanics, focusing on Newton's laws and the study of statics and dynamics as they apply to living organisms. The script uses mechanics to explain the physical principles behind movement.

💡Statics

Statics is the study of systems in equilibrium, which can be at rest or in a constant state of motion. The video uses the example of a gymnast doing a handstand to illustrate statics, showing how biomechanics applies to understanding balance and stability in movement.

💡Dynamics

Dynamics is the study of systems in a state of accelerated or changing motion. The video contrasts this with statics, using examples such as a gymnast performing a tumbling routine or a soccer player changing direction, to demonstrate how biomechanics analyzes movement variability.

💡Kinetics

Kinetics in biomechanics is the study of forces that affect the motion of the body, such as gravity and friction. The video explains how kinetics is used to analyze the effect of these forces on movement, like the force absorbed by the body upon landing, which is crucial for understanding injury prevention and performance.

💡Kinematics

Kinematics is the study of the spatial and temporal characteristics of motion, without focusing on the forces causing the motion. The video uses kinematics to discuss aspects like velocity and displacement, as illustrated by the example of analyzing Usain Bolt's high-velocity running.

💡Motor Control

Motor control is about the mechanisms used by the nervous system to control and coordinate movements of the musculoskeletal system. The video relates motor control to biomechanics by explaining how the nervous system's control over muscles links to the forces and movements analyzed in biomechanics.

💡Open Loop Skill

An open loop skill is one that occurs faster than feedback can influence it. The video uses the example of a clean-and-jerk in weightlifting to illustrate this concept, showing how biomechanics can be applied to understand and optimize rapid, complex movements.

💡Closed Loop Skill

A closed loop skill can be modified during motion based on feedback. The video provides the example of a runner adjusting their stride based on proprioceptive feedback, demonstrating how biomechanics can inform the understanding of real-time movement adjustments.

💡Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the study of designing the interaction between humans and their working environments for optimal efficiency and comfort. The video mentions ergonomics in the context of workplace design and how biomechanics plays a role in preventing injuries and improving work output.

💡Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is dedicated to the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of movement abnormalities. The video explains how physical therapists use biomechanical principles to diagnose and treat issues like patellar tendon pain, highlighting the practical application of biomechanics in healthcare.

💡Adaptive Motion

Adaptive motion refers to the study of how individuals with disabilities navigate movement and participate in sport and exercise. The video discusses the growing field of adaptive motion, emphasizing the biomechanical implications of modifying equipment and pedagogy to suit varying levels of ability.

Highlights

Biomechanics is defined as the science of movement of the living body, combining biological and mechanical aspects.

It is a highly integrated field examining forces acting upon, within, and produced by the body.

Mechanics, a branch of physics, is concerned with forces and energy in motion, including Newton's laws.

Statics and dynamics are two perspectives of mechanics, with statics focusing on equilibrium and dynamics on accelerated motion.

Biomechanical analysis can be performed from kinetics and kinematics perspectives to understand motion.

Kinetics studies forces affecting body motion, while kinematics examines spatial and temporal characteristics.

Biomechanics is applied in sports to analyze movements and prevent injuries, such as in basketball.

Outside of sports, biomechanics is important in understanding normal gait and motor development.

Biomechanics is related to other kinesiology disciplines, such as exercise physiology and motor control.

Open and closed loop skills are distinguished by the speed of feedback in movement.

The neuromuscular system links biomechanics with disciplines like exercise physiology and motor control.

Ergonomics applies biomechanics to design better human-machine interfaces in workplaces.

Physical therapy integrates biomechanics to prevent, evaluate, and treat movement abnormalities.

Biomechanics helps in sports medicine to understand how equipment affects human motion and injury prevention.

Pedagogy in biomechanics involves teaching and coaching movement with an understanding of motor behavior.

Adaptive motion is a growing field in biomechanics, focusing on individuals with disabilities and their movement outcomes.

Biomechanics analyzes human movement across various domains to ensure better movement outcomes.

Transcripts

have you ever wondered what applied

biomechanics is well you're in the right

place because this video is the first in

the series explaining all about

biomechanics and in this video we'll

cover not only the definition of the

word but also how biomechanics relates

to other fields within kinesiology okay

dr. good and here and in this video as I

said we'll be discussing an introduction

to biomechanics so what is biomechanics

bio meaning life and mechanics referring

to machines how does it all come

together and more importantly how does

it fit within the umbrella of other

kinesiology disciplines let's dive right

into the content alright here we are in

the slides for today and a big question

we're addressing is what is biomechanics

biomechanics is simply the science of

movement of the living body so you see

we have bio body biology life and

mechanics movement machines etc now to

break it down even further biomechanics

is the physics of motion exhibited or

produced by biological systems and if we

want to get even more specific it's a

highly integrated field of study that

examines forces acting upon within and

produced by the body so external forces

that would be forces acting upon

internal forces that would be forces

within the body so forces ground

reaction forces that are traveling up

the shank and into the femur for

instance or produced by the body via

muscles now biomechanics integrates

biological characteristics with

traditional mechanics

hence bio and mechanics but what is

mechanic's so most of us in kinesiology

we may not be brushed up on the physics

so mechanics is the

of physics it's a specific branch in

physics that's specifically concerned

with the effective forces and energy on

the motion of bodies so if you recall

Newton's three laws which we'll go over

in another video those would be within

the realm of mechanics and within

mechanics we have both statics and

dynamics now statics is the study of

systems in a state of equilibrium so

this could be at rest or in a constant

state of motion think of somebody doing

a handstand for instance a gymnast doing

a handstand that would be an example of

statics but so would a runner traveling

at a constant speed or a cyclist or a

swimmer now dynamics on the other hand

is the study of systems in a state of

accelerated or changing motion so now we

want to think of a gymnast who is doing

a tumbling routine or who is or maybe a

soccer player who's not running at a

constant speed but now they're cutting

and decelerating and accelerating in

different directions

so when we perform a biomechanical

analysis and we'll do that later in this

course in other videos we can perform it

from two different perspectives

the first is kinetics and this is the

study of forces like gravity or friction

that inhibit cause facilitate or modify

motion of the body so what is the effect

of gravity on a javelin that you're

throwing or what is the effect of

friction on artificial turf as compared

to grass I mean kinematics is the study

of spatial and temporal characteristics

of motion so these are things like

velocity speed displacement here we have

a picture of Usain Bolt traveling at

high velocities and we're not when we're

looking at kinematics were not so much

concerned with the forces as much as we

are on the displacement and the rate of

displacement

now typically we think of biomechanics

in sport there's so many examples of

biomechanics in sport is easy to come up

with them in this case where the example

is a basketball player might injure her

ankle while landing from a layup from a

kinematic perspective how fast was that

player moving at the moment of injury so

we want to know the velocity how fast

was she running when she planted her

foot

2bath how fast was she moving when she

impacted the ground and was it single

leg or double leg from a kinetic

perspective we want to ask the question

how much force was absorbed by the body

upon landing so we might want to

consider the stress and strain

relationship of her lower leg we might

want to consider how much force she was

capable of absorbing the last time she

was tested on a force plate but outside

of Sport biomechanics is important as

well so think about the normal gait

cycle scientists in the realm of motor

development mode of learning and motor

control might necessity Panzi as far as

their stride characteristics go so from

a kinematic perspective what's the

length or the distance of these strides

from a kinetic perspective we might ask

why do they walk with these particular

characteristics so just imagine a baby

in a chimpanzee walking they tend to

walk with their arms up high out to

their side short steps toes turn

outwards for balance how does the force

produce differ between the infant and

chimpanzee or how is it the same now I

mentioned in the intro that biomechanics

is a field that's highly related to

other fields within kinesiology here we

have a list it's not a complete list but

biomechanics is all about movement and

so are things like economic physical

therapy occupational therapy and so on

down this list all of these sub

disciplines within kinesiology have a

biomechanical component so for instance

biomechanics and exercise physiology

what is the relationship there

well if biomechanics is about movement

exercise physiology is about movement

that is caused by the contraction of

skeletal muscle so in this case we're

focused on what's the physiology of that

muscular contraction that causes force

and if you recall that force is going to

be within under that umbrella of

kinetics or a kinetic analysis within

biomechanics what about motor control so

your biomechanics is about movement

while motor control is about the

mechanisms used by the nervous system to

control and coordinate the movements of

the musculoskeletal system within motor

control we also have motor development

and motor learning so the maturation

throughout the lifespan and the motor

learning is experience and/or practice

how do we modify these movement patterns

with practice

now this brings us to two important

concepts the first is an open loop skill

an open loop skill is a skill that

occurs at a faster rate than feedback

can change so think of a a clean and

jerk in Olympic style weightlifting in

the clean-and-jerk you that a flea needs

to accelerate the barbell off the ground

hit a series of very specific positions

on the way up through the first and

second and third poles meet the bar at

its apex and catch it and then stand up

with it and this is not a light bar but

this happens so fast it all happens

within a second or two

so the athlete often doesn't have time

to reevaluate if they think oh the bar

path was out you know the bar was

traveling out in front of my knees I

need to pull it back by the time you

think that the bar is already up and

you're into your third pole and it's too

late to correct a closed loop skill on

the other hand is a skill that can be

changed while in motion as a result of

feedback so let's say that you're a

runner and you're running along maybe

you're out on a 10-mile run it's

supposed to be a tempo run at a nice

steady pace maybe around your marathon

pace and as you're running your your

foot strike every single foot strike

that you feel is giving you

proprioceptive feedback as is the

feeling in the muscles of your legs as

is the carriage of your arm swing and a

runner often a good one

will intuitively know if their stride is

off if they're feeling clunky or if

they're feeling kind of stompy as they

run maybe they're over striding maybe

they're feeling flat and slow because of

fatigue but they can use that feedback

to then correct with every step that

they take to get better running economy

as they're running and that would be an

example of a closed loop skill you can

correct it as you go now in these three

examples that I just gave the

neuromuscular system is really the link

between these disciplines between

exercise phase motor control and

biomechanics if we think of muscles as

many metabolic machines these little

machines can actually cause motion of

the skeletal system so therefore these

muscles are actually the kinetic factors

force producing factors that affect

kinematic values he produced force in

the muscle and then it results in change

in the body force produced by the muscle

results in displacement of bones around

joints and muscles are under the control

of the nervous system so it's really

that nervous system that links at all to

with us off ergonomics so this takes us

again outside of the realm of sport so

if you consider if you even look at the

chair that I'm sitting in right it has

some cushion on the back has these arm

rests you can adjust the height the back

feels pretty good you know I can lean

back and it doesn't hurt too much I can

sit in this for a decently long time

without feeling any pain in my joints

the one thing though that I have noticed

working at this desk during quarantine

is that I tend to get wrist cramps

because the desk might be a little bit

high when I'm typing on my keyboard so

all of these things that I'm mentioning

are related to economics it's it's the

attempt to make the human machine

interface while you're working or on the

job site as fluid as possible so we want

to design a better human machine

interface that doesn't lead to these

chronic overuse injuries or workplace

pain that would not only result in

decreasing work output but in decreasing

quality of life for the workers this

sometimes is also called occupational

biomechanics now physical therapy this

is something that often comes to

people's mind when they think of

biomechanics and it is maybe one of the

most integrated practical fields with

biomechanics so physical therapy is

obviously dedicated to preventing

evaluating and treating movement

abnormalities most of us have been to a

physical therapist at some point in our

lives disordered movement whether that's

caused by injury disease imbalance

congenital conditions you know whether

it's learned or due to an injury these

can all lead to injury and a decrease in

quality of life it can lead to pain and

so a physical therapist has to be

familiar with biomechanical principles

to really recognize and diagnose

underlying causes of disordered movement

and then they have to be able to design

an appropriate intervention

maybe somebody comes in and they're

having you know right knee pain on the

patellar tendon and so the physical

therapist might watch them walk they

might assess their gait they might do

manual muscle testing to see if their

gluteus medius and minimus are

activating well they might take a look

at their lumbar spine to check and see

if they're in alignment or not they

might look at their leg length to see if

there's a discrepancy there they may

evaluate their landing mechanics from a

jump or from you know stepping off of

something and then landing to see if

they have an eval gist or if their knees

are coming way too far over their toes

causing undue stress that their quads

don't have the capacity to absorb all

that force within sports medicine we

have athletic trainers who are focused

on for preventing and then immediately

treating injuries that occur in sports

so these methods may require things like

bracing and taping and these can both

affect normal human motion so we might

use biomechanics and to understand how

an ankle brace for instance affects than

normal pattern of cutting that an

athlete might take as they go through an

agility test you know does that ankle

brace decrease performance more

importantly does it lead to some sort of

maladaptive pattern of movement that

could lead to injury further up the

kinetic chain biomechanics can help us

answer these questions pedagogy so this

is relating to how we teach people how

to move so both teaching and coaching

this begins with an understanding of

motor behavior as well as comprehensive

knowledge in the content area so in the

sport that you're coaching in or in the

discipline that you're teaching in but

biomechanics can help us to provide

better feedback for the type of learner

their level of proficiency and whether

we need to give frequent feedback or no

feedback at all perhaps and finally we

have adaptive motion this is a growing

field and for a good reason more and

more these days people who have

disabilities are challenging themselves

and the whole concept of what a

disability means by continuing to pursue

sport and exercise at a high high level

but we also have to keep in mind that

there are individuals who are just

trying to navigate the world with some

sort of a disability so these

disabilities can be due to a loss of

sensory function whether visual tactile

auditory proprioceptive perhaps loss of

limb perhaps some challenge for

understanding instructions and selecting

efficient motor patterns and all of

these all of these various levels of

ability have with them biomechanical

implications how do we change the

pedagogy that dewar delivering how do we

change the equipment that we're using

for these athletes and for those these

people how do we modify the closed

versus open loop nature of certain

movements so that we can we can get

movement outcomes for these individuals

so to recap biomechanics is the physics

of motion exhibited or produced by

biological systems it deals with not

only kinetics the forces acting on or

produced by a biological system but also

with kinematics which is movement

through spatial and temporal domains

biomechanics also relates highly to

other disciplines in kinesiology like

exercise physiology motor behavior

pedagogy etc because all of these

domains require human movement and

biomechanics is all about analyzing that

movement to ensure better movement

outcomes

[Music]