Biomechanics
(HL10522)
Year 1, Semester 2
Contents:
Linear Kinematics
o (page 2-10)
General Motion (2)
Centre of Mass (2)
Kinematics; Data Collection (3)
Scalars & Vectors; Vector Components; Trigonometric Functions; Position; Distance;
Displacement; Speed; Velocity; Acceleration (3-5)
Position/Velocity – Time Graph; Continuous Velocity Data; Continuous Acceleration
Data (6-7)
Running Kinematics (7)
Projectile Motion; Parabola; Projectile Factors; Maximising Projectile Range; Projectile
Goals (8-10)
Angular Kinematics
o (page 11-13)
Angular motion (11)
Angles; Angle Types (11-12)
Angular position; Angular Distance; Angular Displacement; Angular Speed; Angular
Velocity; Angular Acceleration (12-13)
Linear and Angular Relationship
o (page 14)
Linear & Angular Displacement; Velocity; Acceleration (14)
Linear Kinetics
o (page 15-18)
Forces; Resolution of Forces (15-16)
Newton’s Law of Motion (16)
Gravity (17)
GRF; Walking & Running GRF (17-18)
Human Patterns
o (page 19-22)
Counter Movement Jump (19)
Vertical Jump (20)
Sprinting (20)
Gait; Walking & Running Gait (21-22)
1
, LINEAR KINEMATICS
Biomechanics
Study structure and function of biological systems by means of mechanical
methods.
Forces affecting living things.
General Motion
Movements combining translation and rotation.
Centre of Mass
Linear motion of body parts in same
direction at same speed
Angular motion of body parts through
the same angle in the same time
Translation Rotation
Same distance covered in same time
Rectilinear motion in a stright line
(Ice skater)
Rotation about a fixed axis
Curvilinear motion along a curved line
(Sky diver)
Non-physical point where body mass is evenly distributed in a concentrated area.
Gravity effect occurs along weights line of action.
Segments manipulated to move CoM outside the body.
o High jumper moves CoM under bar so do not need to raise body as high to
effectively clear the bar.
Kinematics
Spatial and temporal components of motion.
2
, Body motion in relation to position, velocity, and acceleration with no
consideration for the forces.
Data Collection
Qualitative analysis Qualitative analysis
Non-numerical movement description Numerical movement description
Direct observation Data measurements
Simple dichotomy of performance (good- Mathematically compare movements
bad) Precision
Sophisticated joint action identification Sophisticated motion capture technology
Subjective Objective
Directly measure body segement accelerations
Accelerometer
Body segment positions with respect to time
Digitisation of video
High-speed video cameras
Body segement positions with respect to time
Marker locations sequentially fed into computer
Optoelectric motion capture systems Eliminates manual digitisation
Active scans infrared light-emitting diode signal
Passive records reflected infrared light
Scalars vs Vectors
Vector Components
Scalars
Magnitude
Distance, speed, mass,
volume
Vectors
3 Magnitude, direction, sense
Position, displacement,
velcoity, acceleration