This blog is to bring in an idea about Biomechanics. There are myriads of facts and myths about this field. There is a lot of misconceptions about the role of a Biomechanist, especially when it comes to sports. Let me wipe off the myths and clear off the facts. This will lighten up the confusions.
Biomechanics is an area of science that involves imparting and discovering various human aspects associated with the sciences of movement of a living body. This includes the mechanism of muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments in the process of movement production.
“Biomechanics is the study of the structure and functions of biological systems by the means of the methods of mechanics and its principles.” - Herbert Hatze.
The study of biomechanics essentially revolves around the study of forces and their effects on the living system. The word itself can be split into two to get a better insight;
"Bio" - Indicates that biomechanics is related to a living or a biological system
"Mechanics" - Indicates that biomechanics is related to analysis of forces and their effects
Biomechanics is not only a sport related topic. It can be applied even in clinical aspects. The most extensive clinical applications of biomechanics are based on the fields of Prosthetics and neural bionics. Apart from that, the major fields of biomechanics would include;
Biomechanical engineering
Applied bionics and Prosthetics
Sports and Exercise Biomechanics
Clinical Biomechanics
Biomedical engineering
Automobile Biomechanics
Computorised/Software and hardware developments for Biomechanics.
Inspite of so many fields in biomechanics, this blog would elaborate on the field of Sports and Exercise Biomechanics. This can be further divided into two sub-contexts which can be classified as theoretical and practical intricate of Sports and Exercise Biomechanics. This blog has embellished and focused on the theoretical part of sports and exercise biomechanics. However, many practical aspects including the scopes, roles and career practicalities are mentioned and answered over in the other blog, "Biomechanopratications"
"Sports and exercise biomechanics is the study of forces and their effects on human body during the event of a sports or an exercise."
There are five classic and primary goals for the professionals of Sports and Exercise Biomechanics. These goals were deduced from the various possible fields of Sports and Exercise Sciences. They cover a vast area of expected roles of the professionals. Not all can be performed by every professional. Let's see the goals before we can dig deeper.
Performance Improvement
Technique Improvement
Equipment Improvement
Training Improvement
Injury prevention and rehabilitation
1. Performance improvement :
The ultimate goal of any athlete would be about a result; which is of improved performance in the sports and/or exercise one performs. It is quite same even for a biomechanics professional.
For either of them, injury prevention is indeed an important aspect as well. This can be considered as a secondary goal while the performance improvement is the primary.
Injury prevention is closely related to the performance improvement. It is safe to assume injury prevention as an integral part of performance improvement.
It is so because, an uninjured athlete will perform better than an injured counterpart.
2. Technique improvement:
The most common method for improving performance is to improve an athlete's technique. This technique improvement can occur in two ways;
Qualitative-
Teachers and coaches may use their knowledge of biomechanics to correct the actions of an athlete in order to improve the outcome of a skill execution.
They can use qualitative biomechanical analysis methods in their everyday coaching.
Coaches must begin to choose and use appropriate biomechanical determinants that can have an impact on their athlete's performance.
Quantitative-
Researchers of biomechanics uses quantitative biomechanocal analysis to improvise skill techniques or even discover new techniques for improvising performance.
One highly cited example is the techniques discovered in swimming styles and efficiencies.
3. Equipment improvement:
Shoes and apparel constitutes the most commonly used and researched equipments.
For detailed knowledge on the evolution of shoes read the blog on type of shoes.
The equipment worn may have an effect ion the performance. Either directly on performance or through injury prevention.
Equipment improvements are predominantly to be projected towards the coaches and the trainers rather than the athletes themselves.
It’s quite hard to convince the head coaches to buy into some modern techs and equipments.
There are various reasons behind it; including the doubt upon updating and insufficient research criticism.
Lighter and better designed implements have helped to improve performances of both elite athletes and recreational participants.
Again the swimming comes in as a handy example. The "Speedo LZR Racer" swimsuit was designed to minimise muscle vibrations and reduce drag.
4. Training improvement:
Biomechanics has the potential to lead to an effective modification in training and thus produce results of improvements in performance.
This type of biomechanics goal can occur in several ways with several routes of application.
An analysis of the technique deficiencies of an athlete can assist the coach to identify the type of training the athlete requires in order to Improvise performance and also to overcome the technical difficulty faced.
Techniques and trainings have a large psychological and sentimental effects on the player.
Proposing a change in an athlete’s routine will be very challenging for them to pertain to it in various ways out of which a majority is psychological.
Once these factors are identified, the role of a sports psychologist comes into the focus.
The athlete may be limited by the strength or endurance of specific muscle groups, by speed or power and even by specific aspect of a technique. Biomechanical analysis can be done to figure out the muscle firing hierarchy during these movements and deduce the point of locus in training.
5. Injury preventions & Rehabilitation:
Techniques to prevent or reduce injuries:
Biomechanics has a main goal of promoting and discovering training techniques in such a way that it reduces the risk of injuries as much as possible.
Such biomechanical researches are currently happening a lot and these researches have even made history by altering the rules of the sport itself.
One example would be gymnastics; Biomechanical analysis had proved that landing with a slightly flexed knee, hips and ankle can reduce the risk of injuries but would reduces the scores as well. After reporting this to the Gymnastics associations, It was later allowed to land with flex lower extremities without reducing the score.
Equipment designs to reduce injuries:
Biomechanics holds a great role in designing sports equipments to enhance performance and to reduce injuries as well.
Biomechanical computations and simulations can be exploited to provide the base for an alteration or even an inventions of a sport equipment.
It not only needs to be an equipment of play but can also be an equipment of data captures or kinematic value analysers.
Biomechanical softwares and knowledge with proper and feasible applicational methods can do wonders while designing any equipments. A majority of the vast discoveries in the recent era of sports were aided by the concepts of biomechanics.
"Now that we know what biomechanics is, it is time to know where all it can be used, what are the expected roles of the professionals and how much can you do. "