Human Biomechanics

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to: 1. outline the principles of the study of human movement; 2. describe the range of factors that influence the initiation, production, and control of human movement; 3. define and list the types of forces and describe the relationship between forces and movement, body balance and control; 4. employ the role of biomechanics in the analysis of fitness activities such as strength, power, endurance, flexibility, and cardiovascular training; 5. locate the body's lever systems and their relationship to basic joint movement and classification; 6. demonstrate an understanding of kinetic concepts including inertia, force, torque, and impulse; 7. identify the major factors involved in the angular kinematics of human movement; and 8. apply biomechanics knowledge in tissues such as bone, ligaments, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and cartilages.

Fundamental Principles of mechanics applied to study the physiology of biological systems. Introduction to the basic concepts of continuum mechanics-tensors, finite deformation kinematics, stress, conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy applied to deformable continua; rigid body kinematics in the context of applications in biomechanics. Application of biomechanics in tissues such as bone, ligaments, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle and cartilages. Skeletal muscle and mechanism of movement; biomechanical implications of the sliding filament theory; velocity-force curves; lever mechanics; types of muscle fibres.