Kinesiology and Biomechanics

Kinesiology has been traditionally defined as the study of human movement from the point of view of physical sciences (Luttgens & Hamilton, 1997). It has two main areas: anatomical kinesiology and mechanical kinesiology. The former deals with the mechanical aspects of the human body while the latter deals with the mechanical aspects of the human motion.

Meanwhile, biomechanics is defined as application of the mechanical principles in the study of living organism (Hall, 1995). The main interest in this field of study is mechanical analysis of the biological systems such as the human.

In essence, kinesiology is very similar to biomechanics as long as the main area of application is the human. So we can use both terms interchangeably.

Nowadays, people tend to use the term kinesiology for more broader meaning: the study of human movement. They have identified several additional areas such as psychological kinesiology, physiological kinesiology, etc. The term kinesiology replaces the traditional term physical education. In this regard, biomechanics is more specific to refer to both the areas of anatomical kinesiology and mechanical kinesiology.

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Main Themes in Biomechanics

The main interest in this course is the mechanical analysis of the human: its body and motion. Through this course, you will learn the underlying mechanical principles which govern the functioning of the human body. This course will lead you to acquaint to three important themes of biomechanics: safety, effectiveness and efficiency.

Safety means free of injury. By understanding the mechanical principles and the forces involved in human motion, you will be able to avoid doing harm to the body, in other words, to reduce the chance of injury.

Effectiveness is closely related to the level of the performance. The main interest here is to maximize the output. In elite sports, effectiveness is the main target for training.

Efficiency is related to the amount of efforts required to do certain mechanical task. The more efficient, the less efforts you need to put into the task.

For more information, see the FAQs page.

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Main Topics in this course

This course can be divided into three parts: Basics (Chapters 1-3), Anatomical Kinesiology (Chapters 4-9) and Mechanical Kinesiology (Chapters 10-15). In each parts, the following topics will be covered.

Part I: Introduction to Biomechanics (Chapter 1), Basic Concepts (Chapters 2-3).

Part II: Biomechanics of the Human Body (Structure and Functions) -- Bones (Chapter 4), Joints (Chapter 5) & Muscles (Chapter 6).

Part III: Biomechanics of the Human Motion -- Kinematics (Chapters 10-11), Kinetics (Chapters 12-14) & Fluid Biomechanics (Chapter 15).

Some of the important biomechanical aspects of the human body found in Chapters 7-9 will be covered in Part III with the related mechanical concepts.

These topics will be grouped into three segments: (1) introduction & biomechanics of human body, (2) biomechanics of human motion -- kinematics, and (3) biomechanics of human motion -- kinetics, fluid biomechanics. A test will be given after each segment. A total of four quizzes will be given in segments 2 and 3 as well.

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