Sports Biomechanics
Sports biomechanics is a stream in sports sciences where we analyse human movement. By analysing human movement, we can predict injuries and avoid them. If we know what exactly is going wrong with the technique, then we can improve it and get optimal sporting performance.
How forces create movement or motion is studied in mechanics. Biomechanics deals with forces created by the movement or motion of living things. In sports, we use the principles of biomechanics to study how we can improve the performance of an athlete.
Sports biomechanics have proven to be very helpful in understanding how forces have been influencing movement in sport and their effect on sporting performance.
Technique Improvement:
For athletes who have recently started their sporting career, it is very important for them to understand coaches’ cues and auditory cues to correct their techniques.
With the help of sports biomechanics analysis, we can get visual cues that can help athletes understand exactly in which part of their performance, when, which, and how much change should be made. In case there are any kind of postural problems or asymmetry, we can assign the athlete to a sports scientist or physiotherapist to correct them.
Sports biomechanics deals with both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
Qualitative data can help us with changes to be made in performance which are visible with naked eyes.
Quantitative Data can help us with numerical data that can be used to understand which parameters are impacting the sporting performance.
Equipment Improvement:
Sporting equipment has its own place in improving the performance of an athlete.
I’m talking about a few: running shoes, swimming suits, helmets, etc.
As new research has been conducted on multiple aspects of sporting equipment and its role in improving performances, big brands have tried to create new designs for their equipment.
These new designs of equipment have helped athletes a lot when they want to progress further to bigger competitions.
Physical performance in sports plays its own role, though when this physical performance plateaus, we have to find other ways to get an additional peak in performance.
At this time, biomechanists can help change the design of sports equipment to add additional performance improvement aids.
Injury Prevention:
Identifying the cause of an injury and providing suitable exercise to correct it is very important.
In sports biomechanics, we can analyse human movement and identify the origin of an injury.
If we provide an exercise, it will not necessarily help the athlete get back to normal.
If the injury is complex, involving multiple sites of pain, then exercise can aggravate the pain, which can add an additional problem to the current injury.
In this case, understanding human movement is really important.
Post-injury, if we do biomechanical analysis, we can understand which movements athletes can perform without pain.
Using such pain free corrective exercise modalities, we can correct the postural problems while resolving the current injury problems.
Conclusion:
Sports biomechanics plays a valuable part in sport performance.
Biomechanists can help athletes improve their sport performance by improving technique, avoiding injuries, and improving sport equipment.
Video analysis and injury prevention programmes with the use of sports biomechanics have saved multiple athletes’ careers.
FAQ’s:
What is sports biomechanics?
It is the science of understanding human movements and forces and implementing this science on athletes to improve their sport performance.
How do I become a sports biomechanist?
Get enrolled in courses where they focus on sports biomechanics, such as B.Sc. Sports and Exercise Sciences, M.Sc. Sports and Exercise Sciences, or M.Sc. Sports Biomechanics.
Where do Biomechanists get jobs?
Sports biomechanists get placed in leagues or teams to analyse the performance data.
They can work in sports medicine hospitals in alignment with sports medicine doctors.
