Three Dimensional Analysis Of Human Locomotion

Thanks to improvements in motion recording technology and computer data processing, real-time, full-body 3D representations of human locomotions are now possible. This book examines 3D analysis of human locomotion and discusses fundamental aspects of functional anatomy, motor control, and neuroscience applied to locomotion. It provides advice on setting up and operating a gait laboratory along with the essentials of instrumentation and the current modeling techniques for estimating muscle forces.

Researchers, graduate students, and practitioners alike will benefit from this state-of-the-art reference. It's the first book to explain in a single volume the essential components of three-dimensional analysis of human movement. Readers will gain a fundamental understanding of methods and technology used to capture, reconstruct, and process 3-D data; concepts and techniques of mechanical and neuromuscular modeling, including robotics; and the application of 3-D analysis. The editors have brought together contributions from international experts to create a technical manual that demonstrates the possibilities and potential pitfalls of 3-D analysis of human movement. More than 140 tables, diagrams, and photos throughout the book illustrate essential content.

The importance of measurements for the proper assessment of human locomotion is increasingly being recognized. The fields of application encompass both healthy and pathological locomotion as encountered in rehabilitation medicine, orthopedics, kinesiology, sports medicine, and the like. Measurement of Human Locomotion provides an up-to-date description of the instrument systems used for measurement of: kinematics of human movement; kinetic quantities experienced by the human body in contact with the ground; and, myoelectric changes associated with locomotor activity. Physical principles behind the operation of various measurement systems are emphasized, as well as signal processing issues that must be addressed in order to obtain and use quantitative measurement variables in biomechanics. The book explains how measurement data are acquired, processed and presented to the user in the environment of a modern, computer-based laboratory. The ultimate aim is to contribute to the processes of the diagnosis and treatment of locomotion disorders. The purpose of Measurement of Human Locomotion is to provide a concise but comprehensive presentation of the systems used for the measurement of human locomotion, with a view to the assessment and diagnosis of the phenomenon.

This book addresses instruments, methodologies and diagnostic methods used to evaluate and diagnose human movement, locomotion and physical status in general. Starting from historical perspective, the idea of understanding human locomotion by applying technical measurement devices and incorporating measurement data into physical representation of gross body movement is presented and explained, an approach known as inverse dynamics. With this approach as a kind of umbrella concept, components of measurement systems including relevant signal and data processing methods are described. Modern instruments to capture body movement by measuring its kinematics, kinetics and surface electromyography (sEMG) are thus described; all systems being used dominantly—if not exclusively—in a movement analysis laboratory setting. Focusing mainly on human posture and gait, but including also examples of movement patterns from selected kinesiological and sports activities, the book attempts to present essentials of biomechanics and biomedical engineering approach to this subject matter. It illustrates how data collected and elaborated by modern engineering technology can complement traditional expert knowledge of a kinesiologist or a medical doctor. The book is applicable in the fields of sports, physical activities, as well as in medical diagnostics and rehabilitation. The examples of this book’s practical application might be in evaluation of efficiency of human gait, in evaluation of skeletal muscle fatigue in physical exercise, in biomechanical diagnostics of traumatological conditions requiring orthopaedic treatment and the like. This book can also be used in planning and executing research endeavours, particularly in a clinical context as a reference for various diagnostics procedures. It presents the lecture notes of a course carrying the same name within Medical Studies in English at the University of Zagreb for more than a decade.

The 19th century pioneers of motor physiology - Helmholtz, Hering, Fick and others - used the mathematics of motion, known as kinematics, to describe the laws of human movement and to deduce the neural control principles underlying these laws. After long neglect - partly due to limitations in stimulation and recording techniques - the kinematic approach is now resurging, fortified with modern computers and electrophysiology. New developments in recording techniques, as well as an improved understanding of the complex control properties of three-dimensional movements, have led to a flood of new research in this area. The classical laws of Donders and Listing have been confirmed and generalized, and computer simulations of the neural control of three-dimensional movement have been developed and tested. In this book, some of the world's leading scientists of motor control discuss how the brain represents and tranforms the kinematic variables of movement. Background chapters explain the basic concepts - non-commutativity, redundancy and the classical laws - and their application to normal function and motor disorders, and shorter articles describe current research. The contributions are based on presentations at a symposium held in Tübingen in August 1995. The wide scope of the book should enable researchers to gain an overview of current research, but should also help newcomers tot he field to get a good understanding of the questions and problems involved in three-dimensional movement control.

The 19th-century pioneers of motor physiology — Helmholtz, Hering, Fick and others — used the mathematics of motion, known as kinematics, to describe the laws of human movement and to deduce the neural control principles underlying these laws. After long neglect — partly due to limitations in stimulation and recording techniques — the kinematic approach is now resurging, fortified with modern computers and electrophysiology. New developments in recording techniques, as well as an improved understanding of the complex control properties of three-dimensional movements, have led to a flood of new research in this area. The classical laws of Donders and Listing have been confirmed and generalized, and computer simulations of the neural control of three-dimensional movement have been developed and tested. In this book, some of the world's leading scientists of motor control discuss how the brain represents and transforms the kinematic variables of movement. Background chapters explain the basic concepts — non-commutativity, redundancy and the classical laws — and their application to normal function and motor disorders, and shorter articles describe current research. The contributions are based on presentations at a symposium held in Tubingen in August 1995. The wide scope of the book should enable researchers to gain an overview of current research, but should also help newcomers to the field to get a good understanding of the questions and problems involved in three-dimensional movement control.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

When working with sports men and women, the biomechanist is faced with two apparently incompatible goals: reducing injury risk and improving sports performance. Now in a fully updated and revised edition, Sports Biomechanics introduces the fundamental principles that underpin our understanding of the biomechanics of both sports injury and performance, and explains how contemporary biomechanical science can be used to meet both of those goals simultaneously. The first four chapters of this book look closely at sports injury, including topics such as the properties of biological materials, mechanisms of injury occurrence, risk reduction, and the estimation of forces in biological structures. The last four chapters concentrate on the biomechanical enhancement of sports performance including analytical techniques, statistical and mathematical modelling of sports movements, and the use of feedback to enhance sports performance. Drawing on the very latest empirical and epidemiological data, and including clear concise summaries, self test questions and guides to further reading in every chapter, this book is essential reading for all advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students with an interest in biomechanics, sports injury, sports medicine, physical therapy or performance analysis. Visit the companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/bartlett