KINESIOLOGY OF MOVEMENTS AND UDERSTANDING THE

PLANES AND AXES OF MOVEMENTS

LEADER:
HALIM, SHARIFA S.
MEMBERS:
GANANCIAL, CHRISTINE B
GARCIA, SAMIE A.
GAYAO, SHAINA F.
HABBISI, DARLYN J.
HALIS, AIRA T.
ISMAEL, RABIA T.
JACOB, KHAREN M.
JAJI, DEHAMA DEWIE I.
✓ Kinesiology is the scientific study
of human or nonhuman body -
movement.
✓ Kinesiology addresses
physiological, biochemical and
psychological dynamic principles and
mechanism of movement.
(www.wikipedia.org)

The erect position of the body with the

face directed forward, the arms at the
side, and the palms of the hands facing
forward, used as a reference in describing
the relation of body parts to one another.
 F lexion= Forward. This action occurs at
many joints always brings the bones that
make up a joint closer together, or closes
the joint.

Is the opposite of flexion, which means it

lessens the angle between the two ones or
opens the joint.

This can also be called internal rotation.

These directions and ter ms are all in relation
to the midline of the body so medial rotation
means coming in toward the midline .
Lateral flexion only occurs along the
axis skeleton as well, so this action is
available at the neck and spine.
 Balancing on the balls of the foot and
pointing your toes like a good ballerina are
examples of plantar flexion. The plantar
surface of your foot is the bottom of your
foot.

A lever consist of:

A rigid structure (bone)
A force acting upon it (muscle) to produce a turning
movement (angular motion)
A fulcrum which is a fixed point (joint)
A load or resistance that is placed on the rigid structure
(weight of
body part being moved and anything that is carrying)
 This type of lever is found in the neck when raising your head to head a
football. The neck muscles provide the effort, the neck is the fulcrum, and the
weight of the head is the load.
 The load is in the middle between
the fulcrum and the effort.

This type of lever is found in the ankle area, when standing on tiptoe, the
ball of the foot acts as the fulcrum, the weight of the body acts as the load and
the effort comes from the construction of the gastrocnemius muscles.

During a biceps curl, the fulcrum is the elbow joint, the effort comes from
the biceps contracting and the resistance is the weight of the forearm, and only
weight that it may be holding.
 ➢ First class lever – Fulcrum is in the middle
➢ Second class lever – Load is in the middle
➢ Third class lever – Effort is in the middle

PLANES AND AXES OF MOVEMENT

➢ All body movements occur in different planes and

around different axes.
➢ A plane is an imaginary flat surface running through
the body.
➢ An axis is an imaginary line at right angles to the
plane, about which the body rotates or spins.
 When describing the relative positions of the body
TERMINOLOGY parts or relationship between those parts it is advisable to
use the same standard terminology.

Two or on the front of the body: in front of

ANTERIOR The pectorals are on the anterior aspect of the
body.

Towards or on the back of the body: behind

POSTERIOR The rhomboids are on the posterior aspect of the
body.

Toward the head or upper part of a structure: above

SUPERIOR
The humerus is superior to the radius.
TERMINOLOGY

Toward the lower part of a structure: below

INFERIOR The tibia is inferior to the femur.

Toward or at the midline of the body: inner side

MEDIAL
The adductors are medial to the abductors.

Away from the midline of the body: outer side

LATERAL
The abductors are on the aspect of the leg.

Closer to the origin of a point of reference

PROXIMAL
The elbow is proximal to the wrist.

Further from the origin or point of reference

DISTAL
The foot is distal to the knee.
 PLANES AND AXIS

Human movements are described in three dimensions based on a series

of planes and axis. There are three planes of motion that pass through
the human body.

The sagittal plane lies vertically and divides the body

SAGITAL PLANE into right and left parts.

FRONTAL PLANE The frontal plane also lies and divides the body into
anterior and posterior parts.

TRANSVERSE PLANE The transverse plane lies horizontally and divides the
body into superior and anterior parts.
 AXIS

An axis is a straight line around which an object rotates. Movement at

the joint takes place in a plane about an axis. There are three axes of
rotation.

The sagittal axis passes horizontally from posterior to anterior and

SAGITAL AXIS
is formed by the intersection of the sagittal and transverse planes.

The frontal axis passes horizontally from left to right and is

FRONTAL AXIS
formed by the intersection of the frontal and transverse planes.

The vertical axis passes vertically from inferior to superior and is

VERTICAL AXIS
formed by the intersection of the sagittal and frontal panes.
 PLANES OF MOTION AND FUNCTION

There is a tendency when describing e movement for it to

be referred to in the particular plane that is dominated
01 by. An example of this would be a description of walking
as a sagittal plane movement.

In reality this is really only a description of the gross direction

of movement. At individual joint level, movement will be
occurring in all three planes not solely in the sagital plane. For
example during walking, the hip will be flexing/ extending in
02
the sagital plane, adducting/ abducting in the frontal plane
and internally/ externally in the transverse plane.

03 The same concept applies to all the individuals’ joints in the

lower limb

The movement that you effectively “see” does not

represent what is occurring in terms of motor control and
force absorption within all three planes.
04
For example, during gait the most obvious hip movement
is expressed in the sagital plane, but at the joint there is

05 an interplay between eccentric force absorption and

concentric force production in all three planes. The hip is
subtly decelerating internal rotation and adduction and
then accelerating external rotation and abduction.

This simultaneous movement can be seen as one motion

with three components … it can be tri- planar motion. 06
It is essential that the exercises professional is comfortable
with the concepts of tri- planar motion and the fact that

07 all functional movements three dimensional, however it is

biomechanically understood that description inn single
plane terms is most useful when generalizing about gross
movements patterns.
 EXAMPLES OF DOMINANT PLANES, MOTIONS AND AXIS INGROSS
MOVEMENTS

PLANE MOTION AXIS EXAMPLE

Walking
Sagital Flexion/ Extension Frontal Squatting
Overhead press
Abduction/ Star jump
Frontal abduction Sagital Lateral arm raise
Side flexion Side bending
Inversion/ eversion
In rotation/ nest
rotation Throwing
Transeverse Horizontal flexion/ Vertical Baseball swing
extension Golf swing
Supination/
pronation

The above are acceptable only a terms of gross movement.

Movement in the sagital plane about the frontal axis.

 Movement in the frontal plane about the sagital axis.

Movement in the transverse (horizontal) plane about the vertical axis.

KEY POINTS

The “three planes of motion” are as much a training variable or “tool” as

the application and progression of resistance, load, speed, range,
frequency, reps and time.
What appears to be movement in one plane may hide its “control” and
contribution from the other two planes.
The transverse plane is often neglected in training programmes.