Grade 10 – SPS (Week 3)

Quarter Fundamentals in Sports Biomechanics

1

What I Need to Know

At the end of this lesson, I should be able to:

1. Evaluate errors in performance of different skills;
2. Develop a movement analysis plan that can be integrated in training.

What’s New

Mechanics is the branch of physics that studies the motion of objects and the forces that cause that motion. The
science of mechanics is divided into many areas, but the three main areas most relevant to biomechanics are:
1. Rigid-body mechanics - the object being analyzed is assumed to be rigid and the deformations in its shape
so small they can be ignored. While this almost never happens in any material, this assumption is quite
reasonable for most biomechanical studies of the major segments of the body. The rigid-body assumption
in studies saves considerable mathematical and modeling work without great loss of accuracy. Some
biomechanists, however, use deformable body mechanics to study how biological materials respond to
external forces that are applied to them.
2. Deformable-body mechanics - studies how forces are distributed within a material, and can be focused at
many levels (cellular to tissues/organs/ system) to examine how forces stimulate growth or cause damage.
3. Fluid mechanics - is concerned with the forces in fluids (liquids and gasses). A biomechanist would use fluid
mechanics to study heart valves, swimming, or adapting sports equipment to minimize air resistance.
 Most sports biomechanics studies are based on rigid-body models of the skeletal system. Rigid-body mechanics
is divided into statics and dynamics.
1. Statics is the study of objects at rest or in uniform (constant) motion.
2. Dynamics is the study of objects being accelerated by the actions of forces. Most importantly, dynamics is
divided into two branches: kinematics and kinetics.
A. Kinematics is motion description. In kinematics the motions of objects are usually measured in linear
(meters, feet, etc.) or angular (radians, degrees, etc.) terms. Examples of the kinematics of running could
be the speed of the athlete, the length of the stride, or the angular velocity of hip extension. Most
angular mechanical variables have the adjective “angular” before them.
B. Kinetics is concerned with determining the causes of motion. Examples of kinetic variables in running
are the forces between the feet and the ground or the forces of air resistance. Understanding these
variables gives the track coach knowledge of the causes of running performance. Kinetic information is
often more powerful in improving human motion because the causes of poor performance have been
identified. For example, knowing that the timing and size of hip extensor action is weak in the takeoff
phase for a long jumper may be more useful in improving performance than knowing that the jump was
shorter than expected.

NINE FUNDAMENTALS OF BIOMECHANICS

Biomechanists measure all kinds of linear and angular mechanical variables to document and find the causes of
human motion. While these variables and studies are extremely interesting to biomechanists, some kinesiology students
and professionals may not find them quite so inherently stimulating. There are 9 principles of biomechanics and
demonstrates how they relate to scientific laws. These biomechanical tools must be combined with other tools from
your kinesiology toolbox to most effectively solve movement problems.
 The nine principles of biomechanics proposed in this text were selected because they constitute the minimum
number or core principles that can be applied to all human movements and because they provide a simple paradigm or
structure to apply biomechanical knowledge. The names of the principles are put in the common language of
application; however, each can be directly linked to the concepts and laws of biomechanics. This will provide a
description of each principle, and the application of these principles will be developed throughout the text. The
principles can be organized into ones dealing primarily with the creation of movement (process) and ones dealing
with the outcome of various projectiles (product). This is to point out that these principles are based primarily on work
of several biomechanists who have developed generic biomechanical principles for all human movements. Many
biomechanics books have proposed general principles for all movements; various categories of human movements like
throwing, catching, and running; or specific movements. Some biomechanists believe that general principles applicable
to all sports are difficult to identify and have limited practical application due to unique goals and environmental
contexts of skills. This book is based on the opposite philosophy.
The nine principles of biomechanics are important tools for improving all human movements.
1. Force–motion says that unbalanced forces are acting on our bodies or objects when we either create or
modify movement. In quiet standing the force of gravity is balanced by ground reaction forces under our
feet, so to move from this position a person creates larger horizontal and vertical forces with their legs. This
simple illustration of the body is our first example of what in mechanics is called a free-body diagram. A free-
body diagram is a simplified model of any system or object drawn with the significant forces acting on the
object. The complexity and detail of the free-body diagram depends on the purpose of the analysis.
Inspection of should make it qualitatively obvious that the addition of the two vertical forces illustrated
would cancel each other out, keeping the person essentially motionless in the vertical direction. The Force–
Motion principle here correctly predicts no change in motion, since there is no unbalanced force acting on
the person. Later on in the text we will use free-body diagrams to actually calculate the effect of forces and
torques on the motion of the human body, and we will study the effects of forces acting over time to change
the motion of the human body. We will also come to see later that this principle is based on Newton's three
laws of motion. The application of the Force–Motion principle in qualitative analysis will be explored
throughout the text. An important thing to notice in this principle is the sequence of events. Forces must act
first, before changes in motion can occur. Detailed study of kinematics will illustrate when the motion
occurred relative to the acceleration and force causing it. Suppose a person is running on a sidewalk and a
small child darts directly in the runner's path to grab a bouncing ball. In order to avoid the child, the runner
must change the state of motion. The Force–Motion principle tells the kinesiology professional that the
runner's sideward movement (a change in direction and speed) had to be created by large forces applied by
the leg to the ground. The force applied by the leg comes first and the sideward motion to avoid the collision
was the result.
2. Force–Time. It is not only the amount of force that can increase the motion of an object; the amount of time
over which force can be applied also affects the resulting motion. A person using a longer approach in
bowling has more time to apply forces to increase ball speed. Increasing the time to apply force is also an
important technique in slowing down objects (catching) and landing safely. The impulse–momentum
relationship, the original language of Newton's second law, is the mathematical explanation of this
important principle.
3. Inertia can be defined as the property of all objects to resist changes in their state of motion. Newton's first
law of motion outlines the principle of inertia. The Newtonian view of inertia as a fundamental property of
motion was a major conceptual leap, rejecting the old Aristotelian view that constant application of force
was required for motion. The linear and angular measures of inertia are mass (m) and moment of inertia (I).
We will see that inertia can be viewed as a resistance to motion in the traditional sense, but this property
can also be used to an advantage when modifying motion or transferring energy from one body segment to
another.
4. Range of Motion the body uses in movement. Range of Motion is the overall motion used in a movement
and can be specified by linear or angular motion of the body segments. The purpose of some movements
might require that some body segments limit range of motion, while others requiring maximum speed or
force might require larger ranges of motion. Increasing the range of motion in a movement can be an
effective way to increase speed or to gradually slowdown from a high speed.
5. Balance is a person's ability to control their body position relative to some base of support. Stability and
mobility of body postures are inversely related, and several biomechanical factors are involved in
manipulating a person's stability and mobility. A handstand is a difficult gymnastic skill not only because of
the muscular strength required, but also because of the small base of support in the anterior and posterior
directions. Athletes in the starting blocks for sprints choose body postures with less stability in favor of
increased mobility in the direction of the race. How the muscle actions and body segment motions are timed
in a human movement is usually referred to as coordination.
6. Coordination Continuum principle says that determining the optimal timing of muscle actions or segmental
motions depends on the goal of the movement. If high forces are the goal of the movement, more
simultaneous muscle actions and joints rotations are usually observed, while low-force and high-speed
movements tend to have more sequential muscle and joint actions. These two strategies
 (simultaneous/sequential) can be viewed as a continuum, with the coordination of most motor skills falling
somewhere between these two strategies.
7. Segmental Interaction says that the forces acting in a system of linked rigid bodies can be transferred
through the links and joints. Muscles normally act in short bursts to produce torques that are precisely
coordinated to complement the effects of torques created by forces at the joints. A wide variety of terms
have been used to describe this phenomenon (transfer, summation, sequential) because there are many
ways to study human movement. This variety of approaches has also created a confusing array of
terminology classifying movements as either open or closed (kinematic or kinetic) chains. We will see that
the exact mechanism of this principle of biomechanics is not entirely clear, and common classification of
movements as open or closed chains is not clear or useful in analyzing movement.
8. Optimal Projection says that for most human movements involving projectiles there is an optimal range of
projection angles for a specific goal. Biomechanical research shows that optimal angles of projection provide
the right compromise between vertical velocity (determines time of flight) and horizontal velocity
(determines range given the time of flight) within the typical conditions encountered in many sports. For
example, in throwing most sport projectiles for horizontal distance, the typical air resistance and heights of
release combine to make it beneficial for an athlete to use projection angles below 45 degrees.
9. Spin or rotations imparted to projectiles, and particularly sport balls. Spin is desirable on thrown and struck
balls because it stabilizes flight and creates a fluid force called lift. This lift force is used to create a curve or
to counter gravity, which affects the trajectory and bounce of the ball. A volleyball player performing a jump
serve should strike above the center of the ball to impart topspin to the ball. The topspin creates a
downward lift force, making the ball dive steeply and making it difficult for the opponent to pass. The spin
put on a pass in American football (Figure 2.8) stabilizes the orientation of the ball, which ensures
aerodynamically efficient flight. The natural application of these biomechanical principles is in qualitative
analysis of human movement.

What I have Learned

1. What are major branches of mechanics, and which are most commonly used in performing biomechanical analyses of
human movement?
2. The nine principles of biomechanics can be classified into which two areas of interest?
3. What are the nine principles of biomechanics?
4. What are some other factors that affect human movement and the application of the principles of biomechanics?
 ARP 😊

Grade 10 – SPS (Week 3)

Quarter Fundamentals in Sports Biomechanics
1

Name:______________________________________Sports Event: ______________________Date: ______________

ACTIVITY NO. 3

List down the different skill in your chosen sports event and identify what type of biomechanics principle involved in a
particular skill.

DIFFERENT SKILLS IN YOUR SPORTS EVENT PRINCIPLES IN BIOMECHANICS INVOLVED

What are the common errors involved in performing the different skills in your sports event? And how can you current
those errors?
ARP 😊