Tasks for Week 1

1. Tasks for Week 1 • First day – Wednesday, August 18 • Course overview – review syllabus • Assignment for Monday, August 23 • Read Chapter 1 of Hall - Intro to biomechanics • Review this powerpoint presentation on courses website • Take Chapter 1 practice exam Textbook website • Solve baseball/softball problem presented at the end of this presentation • Think about how you would approach solution of the problem presented at the end of this presentation • Homework to turn in Monday: Identify three learning objectives or goals you hope to achieve by participating in the class or lab. Then rank the goals according to their relative importance to you.

2. Intro to Biomechanics: Objectives • Define biomechanics, statics, dynamics, kinematics and kinetics and explain the ways in which they are related. • Describe the scope of scientific inquiry addressed by biomechanists. • Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative approaches for analyzing human movement. • Describe the major steps to solving formal problems • Explain how to formulate questions for qualitative analysis of human movement.

3. Terms • Biomechanics • Mechanics • Statics • Dynamics • Kinematics • Kinetics • Anthropometric Factors

4. Studied Problems in Biomechanics • Locomotion patterns • Energy cost with specific movements • Developmental changes in locomotion energetics across lifespan • NASA, microgravity and musculoskeletal system • Osteoporosis • Mobility Impairment • Injury reduction • Occupational research • Mechanical analysis of sports technique • Design and analysis of exercise and sport equipment

5. Why Study Biomechanics? • To address problems related to human health and performance. • Useful for • Phys Ed Teachers • Physical Therapists • Physicians • Coaches • Personal Trainers • Exercise Instructors

8. Problem-Solving Approach • Analysis of human movement can be either • Quantitative or • Six Meters, Three Seconds, Fifty Turns, Two Players, Ten Dollars, etc. • Qualitative • Good, Poor, Long, Heavy, Flexed, Rotated, spiffy, etc. • Questions can be either general or specitic

9. General Question Examples • Is the movement being performed with adequate (or optimal) force? (for example, foot pushoff in walking) • Is the movement being performed through an appropriate range of motion? (for example, walking) • Is the sequencing of body movements appropriate (or optimal) for execution of the skill? (for example, throwing or hitting)

10. Specific Question Examples • Is there excessive pronation taking place during the stance phase of gait? • Is release of the ball taking place at the instant of full elbow extension? • Does selective strengthening of the vastus medialis alleviate mistracking of the patella for this person?

11. Formal Problems:3 components • 1) a set of given information • 2) a particular goal, answer, or desired finding • 3) a set of operations or processes that can be used to arrive at the answer from the given information

12. Solving Formal Quantitative Problems • 1) Read the problem carefully. • 2) List the given information. • 3) List the desired (unknown) information for which you are to solve. • 4) Draw a diagram of the problem situation showing the known and unknown information. • 5) Write down formulas that may be of use. • 6) Identify the formulae to use.

13. Solving Formal Quantitative Problems • 7) If necessary, reread the problem statement to determine whether any additional needed information can be inferred • 8) Carefully substitute the given information into the formula. • 9) Solve the equation to identify the unknown variable (the desired information).

14. Solving Formal Quantitative Problems • 10) Check that the answer is both reasonable and complete • 11) Clearly box the answer. • *Note: Be sure to provide the correct unit of measurement with the answer.

15. Problems for Discussion • Does the softball or baseball hitter have more time to react to a pitch? Assume that the baseball pitcher throws to home plate (60.5 ft, or 18.44 m from pitcher’s rubber) at a velocity of 90 mph (40 m/s) and the softball pitcher throws (46 ft, or 14.02 m from pitcher’s rubber) at a velocity of 60 mph (27 m/s). • A man fell from the railing of a walkway on a second-story apartment building. He was found lying unconscious on his back with his center of mass located 5 feet horizontally from a second story walkway and railing. The top of the railing was 21.6 ft above the ground. His blood alcohol content was found to be .30 (inebriated) and he has no memory of how he fell. In order to appraise liability for the accident, we need to determine if the victim walked into the railing or if he was sitting on the railing and fell off. Can this be done from the information given? How? (Hint: First, find time of flight, then find horizontal velocity, then try to figure out what forces were required to obtain this velocity by using Newton’s law of acceleration (F = ma)

16. Assignment for Wednesday & Monday, August 25 & 30 • Read Hall, Ch 3 • Take web-based practice exam http://www.mhhe.com/hall4e • Review Powerpoint slides (will be posted by Tuesday 5:00 PM) • Homework to turn in (Monday): • Check out one web site related to biomechanics of exercise or sport (some are listed on p 25) and submit a one-page description of the site that includes: • Internet address • Title or purpose of site – who is the intended audience? • Is the site exercise or sport oriented? • Is information of use to you in any way? If so, how? If not, for what type of audience would it be of value? • Self-test Intro problems (pp 80-81): 1,2,5,6,7,9,10 (select one to do in class) • Self-test additional problems (p 81): 1,4,5,7)