Vorwort

The purpose of this text is to introduce undergraduate students to the field of exercise and sport biomechanics. The author's goal was to write a concise, clear, and effective textbook for a one-semester undergraduate course in biomechanics for students of human movement. The book is divided into four parts. Part I consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to biomechanics, which includes justifications for the study of biomechanics. Chapters 2 and 3 review fundamental concepts and principles of anatomy and mechanics, respectively. The material included in these two chapters might be considered the prerequisite material for a course in biomechanics. This material is the foundation for the material presented later in the book. Part II is concerned with external biomechanics, or external forces and their effects on the body and its movement. Rigid-body mechanics with applications to human movement is the primary topic of this part. Mechanics is one of the most difficult topics for undergraduate students of human movement to understand, thus, part II makes up the largest part of the book. The order of presentation of topics in this part differs from most other kinesiology and biomechanics texts. It begins with the presentation of the concepts of force and statics in chapter 4, before discussing movement in chapter 5 and the causes of linear motion in chapter 6. Mechanical work and energy principles are discussed in chapter 7. Torque, moment of force, and center of gravity are introduced in chapter 8, prior to discussing angular kinematics in chapter 9. The causes of angular motion are presented in chapter 10. Part II concludes with a discussion of fluid mechanics in chapter 11. Part Ill is concerned with internal biomechanics, or internal forces and their effects on the body and its movement. This part begins with a discussion of the mechanics of biological materials in chapter 12. Stress and strain are introduced in this chapter, along with various concepts of material strength. Overviews of the skeletal system, muscular system, and nervous system control are then presented in chapters 13, 14, and 15. Part IV is concerned with the application of biomechanics. Commonsense methods of applying biomechanics to the analysis of sport or human movement skills are presented in the three chapters of this part. The first of these chapters, chapter 16, presents procedures for completing qualitative biomechanical analyses to improve technique. Chapter 17 presents a method of qualitative biomechanical analysis to improve training. A qualitative procedure for identifying active muscle groups in phases or parts of movements is emphasized in this chapter. Chapter 18 concludes the book with an examination of how qualitative biomechanical analysis can be used to help understand the causes of injury. Vorwort