Biomechanics and Gait Analysis

Nicholas Stergiou

• Verlag: Academic Press
• Jahr: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780128134405
• Thema: Technology & Engineering
• Thema: Biomedical Science

Biomechanics and Gait Analysis presents a comprehensive book on biomechanics that focuses on gait analysis. It is written primarily for biomedical engineering students, professionals and biomechanists with a strong emphasis on medical devices and assistive technology, but is also of interest to clinicians and physiologists. It allows novice readers to acquire the basics of gait analysis, while also helping expert readers update their knowledge. The book covers the most up-to-date acquisition and computational methods and advances in the field. Key topics include muscle mechanics and modeling, motor control and coordination, and measurements and assessments.

This is the go to resource for an understanding of fundamental concepts and how to collect, analyze and interpret data for research, industry, clinical and sport.

• Details the fundamental issues leading to the biomechanical analyses of gait and posture
• Covers the theoretical basis and practical aspects associated with gait analysis
• Presents methods and tools used in the field, including electromyography, signal processing and spectral analysis, amongst others

Chapter 1

Introduction to biomechanics

Nick Stergiou, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, United States

Abstract

Biomechanics is the study of forces that act on a body and the effects they produce. In biomechanics, we study movement because we want to understand the underlying mechanisms of movement and to improve our understanding of the acquisition and regulation of skill. However, the uniqueness of biomechanics as an area of study evolves not from the unique body of knowledge but from the uniqueness of the questions we ask relative to understanding human movement. Biomechanics can trace its origins to Aristotle who wrote the first biomechanics textbook; however, it was not until during the 20th century that biomechanical research witnessed a scientific explosion fueled by the availability of appropriate technology. As such it influenced applications in industrial, medical, and other practical areas, with biomechanics evolving as a necessary science-based method in the study of human and animal movement.

Keywords

Developmental biomechanics; exercise biomechanics; rehabilitative biomechanics; occupational biomechanics; forensic biomechanics

Contents

Outline

• 1.1 Introduction 1
• 1.2 The history of biomechanics 2
  • 1.2.1 A trip down the memory lane 2
  • 1.2.2 Archimedes: an early biomechanist 5
• 1.3 Areas of biomechanical inquiry: examples of diverse and unique questions in biomechanics 7
  • 1.3.1 Developmental biomechanics 7
  • 1.3.2 Exercise biomechanics 9
  • 1.3.3 Rehabilitative biomechanics 10
  • 1.3.4 Occupational biomechanics 11
  • 1.3.5 Forensic biomechanics 12
• 1.4 A quick look into the future of biomechanics 13
• References 15
• Suggested readings 16

Elsewhere we have investigated in detail the movement of animals after their various kinds, the differences between them, and the reasons for their particular characters (for some animals fly, some swim, some walk, others move in various other ways); there remains an investigation of the common ground of any sort of animal movement whatsoever.

The opening sentence from the book On the Motion of Animals by Aristotle (384–322 BCE).

1.1 Introduction

I define biomechanics as the study of the forces that act on a body and the effects they produce. Bates suggested that biomechanics is an intersection of biology, physiology, anatomy, physics, mathematics, and chemistry to solve difficult problems in medicine and health (Bates, 1991). Hay described biomechanics as the science that examines the forces acting upon and within a biological structure and the effects produced by such forces (Hay, 1973). Alt referred to biomechanics as the science that investigates the effect of internal and external forces on human and animal bodies in movement and at rest (Alt, 1967). These descriptions and definitions communicate the essential relationship of the organisms and mechanics found in biomechanics and identify biomechanics as a science. However, is biomechanics a science or an application?

Some investigators and academicians suggest that biomechanics is the application of physics and mathematics on biological problems. I fervently disagree with this notion and strongly believe that biomechanics is a science. A science is an area of study that deals with understanding, predicting, and explaining phenomena within a content domain. In biomechanics, we study movement because we want to understand the underlying mechanisms of movement and to improve our understanding of the acquisition and regulation of skill. However, the uniqueness of biomechanics as an area of study evolves not from a unique body of knowledge but from the uniqueness of the questions we ask relative to understanding human movement (Bates, 1991). We use techniques and methods from other scientific disciplines, such as physics and engineering, and relate them to human movement. In biomechanics we complement mechanical assessments with biological interpretations (Higgins, 1985).

The study of movement involves the explanation and understanding of the structural and functional mechanisms underlying human performance in all of its presentations, from fundamental motor skills to demanding exercise. Higgins (1977) proposed that skill is a movement that allows an organism to respond or act effectively within the environment and to integrate past and present. To become skillful requires mastery of the redundant degrees of freedom (Bernstein, 1967). These degrees of freedom, or constraints, are morphological, biomechanical, environmental, and task specific (Higgins, 1977). The study of these constraints is required to explain and understand the underlying mechanisms of movement. Thus we have to approach movement from an interdisciplinary approach. Movement, as a very broad phenomenon, appears in many different forms such as play, dance, sport, work, and daily-living activities. This is why a biomechanist cannot study meaningful questions without adequate preparation in areas such as motor control, physics, physiology, mathematics, computer science, and engineering.

1.2 The history of biomechanics

1.2.1 A trip down the memory lane

The history of biomechanics can be traced back to the ancient Greeks (Nigg & Herzog, 1994). Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was the first to examine and write about complex movements, such as running and walking. In his book On the Motion of Animals, the first biomechanical textbook, he said that the animal that moves makes its change of position by pressing against that which is beneath it. Hence, athletes jump farther if they have the weights in their hands than if they have not, and runners run faster if they swing their arms, for in extension of the arms there is a kind of leaning upon the hands and wrists. Archimedes (287–212 BCE) was the first to examine floating bodies and their movements in water. Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) advocated that man should base observations on and draw conclusions only from what is perceived through the senses. Galen (CE 131–201) was the physician of the gladiators. He developed anatomical descriptions and the present-day terminology in use in many biological science fields.

During the Renaissance, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) examined the structure and function of the human body in a variety of movements and Vesalius (1514–64) laid the foundation of modern anatomy. Following in their footsteps, another group of scientists contributed heavily to the growth of biomechanics. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) studied the action of falling bodies and provided the basis for the mechanical analysis of movement. Alfonso Borelli (1608–79) was a student of Galileo. He examined muscular movement and mechanical principles. His work De Moto Animalium combined the sciences of mathematics, physics, and anatomy. The year the world lost Galileo it gained Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), who developed his famous mechanical laws, and was the founder of calculus, statistics, and dynamics. The contribution of this time period to biomechanics included Newtonian mechanics, which provided us with a theory for mechanical analysis, and an improvement in science through development of the process of theory and experimentation.

During the 19th century the contribution to biomechanics included the foundation of electromyography, the development of measuring techniques to examine the kinematics and kinetics of movement, and the beginning of the use of engineering principles in biomechanical analysis. Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804–91) published the Mechanism of walking in mankind which was a study, undertaken in conjunction with his younger brother, Eduard Friedrich Weber (1806–71). In this study the Weber brothers investigated the influence of gravity on limb movements in walking and running and were the first to study the path of the center of gravity during movement. Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904) studied animal (horses) and human locomotion and was the first to use multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs. He also developed a device, the zoopraxiscope, to project motion pictures and he produced over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion. Étienne-Jules Marey (1830–1904) used various photographical methods to examine movement. He believed that movement was the most important of all human functions and he described it graphically for biological research in his publications Du mouvement dans les fonctions de la vie and Le Mouvement.

These early examples of photographic techniques would develop into the motion capture used in modern cinema and biomechanics. During the 20th century biomechanical research influenced applications in industrial, medical, and other practical areas, and biomechanics evolved as a necessary science-based method in the study of human and animal movement.

Jules Amar (1879–1935) collected extensive experimental data during various physical activities, including load bearing. Amar attempted to quantify muscular output, creating tools to measure different types of effort using the techniques described by Marey. He summarized the physiological aspects related to industrial work in his famous book The Human Motor. This book was translated into English in 1920 and established the standards for human engineering in the United States and Europe. In this book, he explained the scientific qualities and important consequences of the physiology of work, and helped to organize the basis of an experimental science pilot for the workforce.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bernstein (1896–1966) examined walking, running, and jumping, and laid the foundation for the study of motor control and coordination. He used cyclographic techniques to track human movement. His work became known to Western scientists in the 1960s, when his seminal book The Co-ordination and Regulation of Movements was translated into English from Russian. Bernstein was the first to address the question of how the central nervous system is capable of adequately controlling the many degrees of freedom of the musculoskeletal system. This question is known as the “Bernstein problem” in the movement sciences.

Christian Wilhelm Braune (1831–92) was encouraged by the work of Marey to produce experimental and anatomical studies of human gait. His work was published in the book Der Gang des Menschen [cowritten with physiologist Otto Fischer (1861–1917)]. The methodology of gait analysis used by Braune and Fischer essentially remains the same today.

Later, A.V. Hill (1886–1977) investigated efficiency and energy cost in human movement, while W.O. Fenn (1893–1971) published the first biomechanical works in the exercise and sport science literature regarding cinematographical analysis of sprint running (Fenn, 1929, 1931).

In the 1960s the term “biomechanics” began to appear with more frequency in the literature. Biomechanics finally became a graduate specialization, being first established at Indiana University and Penn State University. Richard Nelson developed a laboratory for biomechanical research at Penn State in 1966, which was the first to be identified as using the term biomechanics (Atwater, 1980). His first graduates were Doris Miller and Charles Dillman. Charles Dillman went to the University of Illinois to establish a biomechanics program. In 1967, and about the same time, John Cooper developed a similar laboratory at the University of Indiana. The first graduate of this program was Barry Bates who developed the biomechanics program at the University of Oregon, and the author/editor of this book is one of his students. From these pioneer programs and their graduates many programs around the country were developed. Others with tremendous contributions to the development of biomechanics around the United States include James Hay (University of Iowa), Stanley Plagenhoef (University of Massachusetts), and Carol Widule (Purdue University).

The period from 1966 to the present has been an era of great growth in biomechanics. It has included the development of a number of new societies, journals, and professional meetings. In the United States, the First North American meeting in biomechanics was organized by John Cooper at Indiana University in 1970 (Cooper, 1971). We also had the First International Seminar on Biomechanics, Zurich, Switzerland, in 1967 and the origination of the Journal of Biomechanics in 1968 (Wilkerson, 1997). Furthermore, the Fourth International Seminar on Biomechanics was held at Penn State University in 1973 (Bates, 1974), marking the founding of the International Society of Biomechanics. In 1975 the Fifth International Seminar in Biomechanics in Jyvaskyla, Finland, marked the conceptualization of the American Society of Biomechanics, which was founded the following year in Chicago, Illinois (Wilkerson, 1997).

In 1982 the International Society for Biomechanics in Sport was founded at San Diego, California (Terauds, 1982). More recently, an international electronic mail communication list called BIOMCH-L (...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Figures
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1. Introduction to biomechanics
• Chapter 2. Basic biomechanics
• Chapter 3. Advanced biomechanics
• Chapter 4. Why and how we move: the Stickman story
• Chapter 5. Power spectrum and filtering
• Chapter 6. Revisiting a classic: Muscles, Reflexes, and Locomotion by McMahon
• Chapter 7. The basics of gait analysis
• Chapter 8. Gait variability: a theoretical framework for gait analysis and biomechanics
• Chapter 9. Coordination and control: a dynamical systems approach to the analysis of human gait
• Chapter 10. A tutorial on fractal analysis of human movements
• Chapter 11. Future directions in biomechanics: 3D printing
• Index