Biomechanics Research Paper

BIOMECHANICS AND SPORTS

OBJECTIVES:

• Students will be able to learn importance of biomechanics.

• Students will be able to improve their game with the application of science.

BIOMECHANICS

During the early 1970s, the international community adopted the term Bio- Mechanics to describe the application of mechanical principles in the study of living organisms. As it was realized after 1950 that the mechanical principles involving the human body is entirely different from other things.

When the study of mechanics is limited to living structure, especially the human body, it is called Bio-mechanics.

The Bio-mechanics has derived from two words-Biomechanics.

Bio means, something pertaining to living being or life.

Mechanics means, the discipline

- JAMES G. HAY

"Mechanical bases of biological especially to the Muscular activity and the principles and the relations involved there in".

-WEBSTER’S INT.DICTIONARY

BIOMECHANICS - is the field of study which applies the principles of mechanics to the structure and movement of living things.

SPORTS BIOMECHANICS - is the application of the principles of biomechanics to the study of human motion in sports and exercise.

Importance of Biomechanics

Many students ask themselves: what is the use of studying biomechanics? Will biomechanics help us being a better teacher of physical education or a better coach? There are various reasons why students of physical education find biomechanics included in their curriculum.

The questions that come to your mind while playing any particular sport are:

 Why do I have to do this skill exactly this way?

 Why do my teacher always tell me to exercise or warm up before playing?

 Why do I have to use exactly this piece of equipment?

 What is the advantage of this technical execution?

 Why do I have to use exactly this load during strength

You can throw a lighter shot put farther than a heavier one even if you put all your energy (or force) in both the cases. This happens because the lighter one gets more acceleration as compared to the heavier one and it is able to cover more distance before falling down. Though there are a lot of other factors like angle of throwing, air drag, etc. which govern the distance covered by the shot put before landing but assuming those factors to be equivalent in both the throws, this should give you some insight that Newton’s second law holds.

Newton’s third law states:

“If two objects interact, the force F exerted by object 1 on object 2 is equal in magnitude to and opposite in direction to the force F exerted by object 2 on object 1.” OR

In other words, “Every action have equal and opposite reaction”.

This law can be understood by considering the following example. When you hit a football with a barefoot, the foot hurts less if you hit it softly and it hurts more if you hit it with greater strength. Thus, the football exerts as much force on your foot as you hit it with.

LEVER

A lever is a machine consisting of a beam pivoted at a fixed fulcrum. Our body muscles and bones act together to form levers. Levers can be used to produce bigger force with the application of smaller force. There are four parts to a lever – lever arm, pivot, effort and load. In our bodies:

 bones act as lever arms

 joints act as pivots