☰ Chapter 13: Biomechanics Applied

• Apply knowledge of joint actions and muscle contraction types to various activities
• Determine appropriate training activities for improving performance
• Describe the process for a complete understanding an activity
• Make connections between mechanical laws and aspects of technique
• Demonstrate how to observe technique and correct errors in performance

Training and Rehabilitation

• 2 months of no running
• Cleared to run
• Assymetry of pelvis rotation from frontal view

• Gain a general knowledge of the activity (Knowledge)
• Understand the purposes of the movements involved in the activity (Purposes)
• Determine the characteristics that help accomplish the purposes (Characteristics)
• Determine the causes of any abnormalities (Causes)

• Discus
• Pole Vault
• Baseball

• Golf

  Maximize speed, accuracy, and fluid dynamics of the ball.

• High Jump

  Maximize takeoff velocty while optimizing direction and body positioning.

• High Jump
  

Choose a skill: Write the purpose in mechanical terms and the characteristics of most effective technique

Usain Bolt asymmetry

• Would Usain have been faster or slower if this asymmetry had been "fixed"?
• What caused this asymmetry?

Example analyses
Shot Put
Javelin Throw
Long Jump

Observing the performance

Once the activity is well-understood, the next step is to observe the performance. The purpose of the observation is to find errors in performace where improvements can be made. The following considerations should be made when planning the observation:

• Focus
  • Knowing the characteristic of technique that is the focus of the observation will make the observer much more likely to see the characterisic that is under question.
• Location
  • After doing all that is planned in the Understanding the Activity section, finding the most appropriate place to observe from will make you more likely to see what is needed to improve performance.
• Ability
  • Different characteristics will likely be focused on depending upon the performance level of the participant. This will likely affect the first two questions in this list.
• External factors
  • Varying weather conditions, playing surfaces, footwear, equipment, competition levels, or other factors may change what will be considered optimal performance.

Evaluation of the performance

Once the issues to work on have been observed, the following consideration will help identify what led to the errors.

• Cause of errors
  • The most common situation is when the observed error is actully the outcome of something that happended earlier in the performance. Determining these errors can be very complex and requires a strong understanding of the event and the mechanics behind it.
• Injury risk
  • Whenever there is a potential injury risk due to the error, it must be fixed immediately (ahead of any other errors).
• Movement retraining
  • With multiple concerns, focusing on the one that takes the least time to correct will accelerate learning.
• Magnitude of error
  • When multiple errors are observed, the ones that do not take as long to fix and those that have a larger effect on performance should be corrected first.
• Strength
  • Sometimes the error is due to a lack of strength. When this is the case, improving strength will often allow the performer to correct the error without additional instruction.
• Equipment
  • When equipment is not the correct size or inadequate in some other way, the outcomes of the event may be affected.

Considerations for exercises

• Specificity