Lecture Notes
Introduction to the Course
Instructions: Read through the lecture while watching the PowerPoint slide show that accompanies
these notes. When you see the <ENTER> prompt, press enter for the slide show so that you can
progress through the show in a manner that corresponds to these notes.
SLIDE 1: In this lecture unit, you are going to learn what this course is about and why it has been
included in your major. Make sure you have read the material from the textbook prior to lecture so that
you will be able to follow the lecture more easily and ask questions about concepts that you do not
understand. <ENTER>
SLIDE 2: In this course, we are going to cover four primary topics: Introduction to the Course,
Biomechanical Concepts Related to Human Movement, Anatomical Concepts Related to Human
Movement, and Applications in Human Movement. I will use this outline all semester long in the
Powerpoint lectures to help you remember where we are and to help you understand how all the material
fits together. It is very important that you keep in mind the “big picture” of what we are trying to do, even
as you focus on the details. This combination will allow you to learn the material better and be able to
apply it as you learn it. <ENTER>
SLIDE 3: Today, I will focus on Topic #1 and provide you with an overview of the course. After this
unit, you should have a better understanding of why you are taking this class, and you should have a
better idea of what kinds of things you will learn in Topics #2-#4. <ENTER>
SLIDE 4: Today, we will cover 3 main areas: The Discipline of Kinesiology, The Subdiscipline of
Functional Anatomy, and The Subdiscipline of Biomechanics. <ENTER>
SLIDE 5: Let’s start with The Discipline of Kinesiology. Let’s first define what we mean by The
Discipline of Kinesiology. <ENTER>
SLIDE 6: Kinesiology is a discipline of study. Do you know what a discipline is? A discipline is an
organized body of knowledge collectively embraced in a formal course of learning. Chemistry, physics,
and sociology are examples of disciplines of study. The purpose of a discipline is to develop a coherent
body of knowledge that describes, explains, and predicts key phenomena from the domain of interest, &
seeks to understand subject matter. While some may argue that kinesiology does not have a substantial
body of knowledge to be called a discipline, most scholars do recognize kinesiology as a young, and still
emerging, discipline. Just over 200 years ago, the discipline of chemistry did not even exist. But, as our
knowledge base builds, new disciplines emerge. So it is with kinesiology. What is the domain of interest
that makes kinesiology unique? Well, it is the study of human movement! Due to the information
explosion of the past 50 years, many young disciplines have emerged along with kinesiology. More
formally, kinesiology is the <ENTER> discipline concerned with the comprehensive and systematic study
of human movement. It is an organized body of knowledge about the study of human movement that has
been collectively embraced in a formal course of learning, like your major. We will talk more about the
body of knowledge in kinesiology in just a few minutes. <ENTER> What is the purpose of kinesiology?
Well, as we stated earlier for all disciplines, the purpose of kinesiology is … <ENTER>
SLIDE 7: … to develop a coherent body of knowledge that describes, explains, and predicts key
phenomena about human movement, & seeks to understand human movement. We are specifically
interested in human movement from the perspective of <ENTER> performance enhancement, injury
prevention, risk reduction for chronic disease, and social and aesthetic enjoyment. In this course we will
focus primarily on the first two: performance enhancement and injury prevention <ENTER>. We will
gain <ENTER> knowledge that will help us learn or alter technique, select or design equipment, and
design training programs to enhance performance and prevent injury. There are certainly other factors that
can be examined which would help us improve performance and prevent injury, but these three will be
our primary focus. <ENTER>
SLIDE 8: As we embark on our study of human movement, we must understand that our goal as
individuals, as coaches, as teachers, as therapists, or whatever career you choose, is to achieve the best
performance possible given the constraints imposed on us or on our student, athlete, patient, etc.
Performance enhancement for a 7-yr old child means something different than it does for a collegiate
athlete or a middle-aged woman who has sprained her ankle. It is important that we always consider the
constraints under which we or our client is working. <ENTER> Most people readily associate
performance enhancement with improving performance in a way that is effective (i.e., successful in
meeting goals) and efficient (i.e., requires the least amount of effort possible). However, it is also
important to recognize that performance enhancement means structuring movement in a such a way as to
avoid injury (i.e., safety). In this way, performance enhancement and injury prevention are not two
separate goals, but rather are interwoven with each other. A performance that is “enhanced” in an unsafe
manner ultimately results in injury and detracts from performance. Likewise, a performance that is safe,
but is not effective does not ultimately accomplish anything. Coaches and therapists (to pick two ends of
the professional continuum) should understand that ultimately their goals are the same, and should
remember this as they examine and/or alter technique, equipment, and training for their respective
clientele. Safety, efficiency, and effectiveness should not be sought independently of each other, however,
the emphasis placed on each depends on the movement being improved and the reason for this
improvement. Therefore, the emphasis will vary across performers. <ENTER>
SLIDE 9: Now, let’s briefly talk about professions and professionals, and their use of kinesiology – the
body of knowledge concerned with human movement. <ENTER>
SLIDE 10: First, let’s define profession so that we understand the difference between a profession and a
discipline. <ENTER> A profession is a body whose chief aim is to improve the conditions of society by
providing a regulated service in which practices and educational/training programs are developed that are
in accordance with knowledge available from one or more relevant disciplines. Most of you are not
interested in pursuing careers, such as research, that simply advance the discipline of kinesiology. Rather,
you plan to enter a profession whose chief aim is to improve and serve society in some way. Thus, you
are reliant on knowledge from several disciplines to help you in this pursuit. One of those disciplines is
kinesiology. That is why you are in this class! Let’s take a look at some of the professions that use the
discipline of kinesiology and see if your major is in the list. <ENTER>
SLIDE 11: I have grouped the professions into one of three categories: 1) professions that focus
primarily on rehabilitation of individuals from injury or disease – some people say that this is
performance enhancement of diseased or injured persons; 2) professions that focus primarily on
performance enhancement and work with primarily elite performers in some aspect; and 3) professions
that focus primarily on preventing injury and promoting safe environments for human movement (these
are on the next slide). Do you see any overlap across the 3 categories? Do you see any professions that
you do not recognize? Do you see any professions in the list that do not make sense? For example, do you
know why musicians and actors have been included in the list? <ENTER>
SLIDE 12: Certainly the professions vary in how much and which parts of a kinesiology knowledge base
they need. They also vary on the how they will apply this knowledge base (e.g., rehabilitation vs.
performance enhancement vs. injury prevention). However, the one thing that all of these professions
have in common is that they all rely to some extent on the knowledge base in kinesiology. If your
profession is in this list, then hopefully you can begin to understand why you have to take some of the
courses you take, even if you can’t see the direct practical application of the course. You must have some
foundational knowledge about human movement. You cannot apply what you do not know! If you simply
memorize application, then you are merely a technician – not a problem solver that is able to really help
people move more effectively and more safely!! <ENTER>
SLIDE 13: With that in mind, do you better understand why you have to take this course? This course
addresses content that pertains to kinesiology – the study of human movement. But, how, specifically,
does this course fit into the study of kinesiology? <ENTER>
SLIDE 14: Obviously, there is too much information about human movement to be covered in one
course. So, what part of kinesiology are we going to study this semester? To answer that question, we
need to take a deeper look at the discipline of kinesiology and understand how the body of knowledge that
makes up the discipline is organized. <ENTER>
SLIDE 15: One way to conceptualize the organization of knowledge within the discipline of kinesiology
is shown on this slide. <ENTER> Kinesiology consists of a collective knowledge that is contained within
and between the subdisciplines of functional anatomy, exercise physiology, motor control, sport and
exercise psychology, sport pedagogy, sport sociology, sport history, and sport philosophy. <ENTER>
Each subdiscipline draws on only a subset of the knowledge contained in its parent discipline(s).
However, the subdisciplines can and do generate theories and approaches of their own not acquired from
the parent discipline(s). This organization is somewhat arbitrary and many variations exist, but the
organization depicted in this continuum is frequently reflected in the scheduling and prerequisite subject
structuring of many tertiary courses in kinesiology. You usually take a course in the parent discipline first,
and then take coursework as appropriate in each of the subdisciplines. <ENTER> Kinesiology draws
heavily, but not exclusively, from the methods, theories, and knowledge of a wide range of other
disciplines and discipline groups and provides them with an integrative focus on human movement.
<ENTER> The organization in this continuum represents generally a progressive shift from left to right
from a focus on the micro phenomena to the more macro phenomena of human movement. Depending on
your major, you will probably take more coursework from either the biophysical or the sociocultural end
of the continuum. For example, sport science majors will take more courses in the biophysical
subdisciplines while physical education teachers tend to emphasize the sociocultural subdisciplines.
However, it is important for you to understand that to be most effective in analyzing and changing human
movement, you need to have a basic understanding of all of the subdisciplines. Humans are not just
physical or social beings, but are an integration of all these things. <ENTER> Now, back to this course!
How does this course fit in? Well, in this course, we are going to learn a little bit about 2 of the
subdisciplines of kinesiology: functional anatomy and biomechanics. While we certainly won’t be able to
cover everything in each of this subdisciplines, it is my intent to provide you with the knowledge and skill
to be able to perform a basic qualitative analysis of human movement from an anatomical and
biomechanical perspective. More on that later.
SLIDE 16: Let’s now learn a little bit more about the subdisciplines that we will be exploring this
semester. We’ll begin with the subdiscipline of functional anatomy. <ENTER>
SLIDE 17: Functional anatomy is the <ENTER> subdiscipline of kinesiology concerned with
understanding
• <ENTER> the contributions of the muscular and skeletal systems to human movement.
Note that the emphasis will be on only two of the 11 organ systems in the body. Other
subdisciplines cover the other organ systems. Can you figure out which organ systems the
subdiscipline of exercise physiology is concerned with? We will also talk a little bit about
the nervous system this semester, although it is not a primary focus of functional
anatomy. Can you figure out which subdiscipline is concerned primarily with the
nervous system?
• <ENTER> the acute and chronic effects of activity on the musculoskeletal system. Not
only does functional anatomy attempt to understand how these systems contribute to
movement, but it also tries to explain how movement impacts the health status of these
systems. While this will not be a primary focus of this course, it is an important
contribution of functional anatomy to the discipline of kinesiology.
<ENTER>The focus of functional anatomy is typically at the tissue, organ, organ system, and organism
level. In this course we will focus primarily on the organ, organ system, and organism levels, with some
reference to tissue contributions and adaptations. <ENTER>
SLIDE 18: Functional anatomy draws from the parent disciplines of anatomy (the study of structure) and
physiology (the study of function). Again, it draws heavily, but not exclusively, from the methods,
theories, and knowledge of these parent disciplines and discipline groups, and provides them with an
integrative focus on human movement. Ideally, you would take prerequisite work in both of these areas
before taking a course in functional anatomy. However, how much prerequisite work you would take
would depend on the level of the functional anatomy course. For this course (PEP 300), you are required
to take anatomy only. Any physiology knowledge that you need, I will teach you. Functional anatomy
also draws from the subdiscipline of biomechanics, which we will cover in this course as well. <ENTER>
SLIDE 19: Now, let’s now learn a little bit more about the subdiscipline of biomechanics. <ENTER>
SLIDE 20: Obviously, from the name, we can figure out that biomechanics must deal with the mechanics
of biological organisms. But, what exactly does that mean? To answer that question, let’s define
mechanics. <ENTER> Mechanics is a branch of physics that is concerned with the motion and
deformation of particles and mechanical systems that are acted on by mechanical disturbances called
forces. I want to make 3 key points here. First, mechanics is concerned with motion and deformation.
Motion is defined as a change in position of an object (that can be treated as a particle, or point, or as a
system. Therefore, it is well-suited to study motion of humans. Second, this motion is caused by
something called a force. Therefore, we will be talking a lot about forces this semester, since forces are
necessary to cause human motion. Third, even when a force does not cause motion, it does cause the
material of the object to be deformed in some way. For example, when you press your finger on your
desk, your finger nor the desk will probably move, but your finger is made flatter, or deformed. And even
though you can’t see it, the desk is also deformed at the molecular level. While deformation is certainly
important in human movement, particularly in understanding injury of soft tissues or design of
equipment, it will not be the focus of this course. We will talk a little about soft tissue deformation, but
most of our emphasis will be on motion, or movement. <ENTER>
SLIDE 21: Now, that we have defined mechanics, we can now develop a better definition of
biomechanics. <ENTER> Biomechanics is the science that examines forces acting upon and within a
biological structure, and the effects produced by such forces. <ENTER> Another definition of
biomechanics is the science that applies the principles of mechanics to the conception, design,
development, and analysis of equipment and systems in biology. Please understand that biomechanics is
not limited to the study of humans, but is used to study all biological organisms. Many people use
biomechanics to study animals, amoebas, plants, etc. However, our focus will be only on human
biomechanics. <ENTER>
SLIDE 22: Biomechanics draws from the parent disciplines of anatomy, physics, mathematics, and
computer science. Again, it draws heavily, but not exclusively, from the methods, theories, and
knowledge of these parent disciplines and discipline groups and provides them with an integrative focus
on human movement. Ideally, you would take prerequisite work in all of these areas before taking a
course in biomechanics. However, how much prerequisite work you would take would depend on the
level of the biomechanics course. For this course (PEP 300), you are required to take anatomy only. Any
physics or math knowledge that you need, I will teach you. We won’t delve into computer science at all.
<ENTER>
SLIDE 23: In physics, mechanics has 5 branches. The point I want to make here is that biomechanics
deals with only 3 branches: rigid body, deformable body, and fluid mechanics. In this course, we will talk
about only 2 branches <ENTER> – rigid body and deformable body mechanics – and our primary focus
will be on rigid body mechanics. When a force is applied to an object, it can either deform it, cause it to
move, or do both. Deformable body mechanics is concerned with studying the deformation that occurs as
a result of the force application. We will briefly consider deformation this semester when we talk about
why ligaments and other soft tissues tear, or deform. In rigid body mechanics, we ignore the deformations
caused by forces and assume the object to be rigid, or non-deformable. This assumption simplifies our
analyses and allows us to focus on the movement of the object. <ENTER>
SLIDE 24: Now, I want to take a few minutes to review some basic measurement concepts that will be
important to us this semester. Specifically, I want to talk about physical quantities and the systems of
units that we use to give meaning to the magnitude of those quantities. Additionally, I want to briefly
present some symbols that we will use this semester to represent some of the quantities we deal with.
Because physics is the parent discipline that instructs us in how to measure and represent physical
quantities, it usually falls to the subdiscipline of biomechanics within the discipline of kinesiology to
instruct us in how to measure and represent physical quantities of interest in the study of human
movement. For our purposes, we will consider all physical quantities as one of two types: base quantities
and derived quantities. <ENTER> A base quantity is a physical quantity that is defined in terms of some
standard while <ENTER> a derived quantity is a physical quantity that is defined in terms of one or more
base quantities. Which quantities are base and which are derived was originally determined arbitrarily, but
physical sciences now recognize and define 8 base quantities: mass, length, time, electric current, amount
of substance, temperature, luminous intensity, and plane angle. All other physical quantities in the world
can be defined as some combination of these base quantities. We’ll explain this better in a few minutes.
To be able to measure magnitude of these quantities in a meaningful way, several systems of units have
been developed to use in the measurement of these physical quantities. <ENTER> One of the systems is
the International System of Units (SI system), which is often called the metric system because the base
unit of length is called the meter. This system has been adopted by most countries, with the United States
being one of the few who has not. It is the system preferred in biomechanics and all other biophysical
subdisciplines of kinesiology. It is also called the MKS (meter, kilogram, second) system for reasons we
will see in a minute. <ENTER> A second system that most of you are more familiar with is the British
system, which uses the foot as the base unit of length. It is the system most commonly used in the U.S.
<ENTER> A third system that you may have heard of if you have taken physics is the CGS system,
another “metric” system because the base unit of length is the centimeter. We will not use the CGS
system this semester. <ENTER>
SLIDE 25: The table on this slide summarizes the base units for the SI system. I want you to be familiar
with all of these base units. <ENTER> To help you better understand the concept of a base quantity and
unit that is defined in terms of a standard, let’s see how the base unit for length is defined in the SI
system. The meter is defined as the length of path traveled by light in a vaccuum during a time interval of
1/299,792,458 of a second. That is a mouthful!! I don’t expect you to memorize that, but from this
example you can understand the concept of a “standard.” This standard is something that is easily
reproducible (with the right equipment!) and, therefore, the length defined by a meter never changes. All
of the other base units are defined in a similar manner. <ENTER> In the English system, I only want you
to be familiar with the units for the base quantities of length (the foot), mass (the slug), and time (the
second). These are the 3 base quantities that we will deal with this semester. These are not the only
quantities that we will discuss this semester, however. To familiarize ourselves with those quantities, we
have to gain a better understanding of derived quantities. <ENTER>
SLIDE 26: As stated earlier, derived quantities are quantities that are defined in terms of one or more
base quantities. For example, let’s look at force, since that is a quantity that we will be dealing with a lot
this semester. Force is defined as the amount of effort that it takes to cause a 1 kg mass to accelerate 1
meter per second per second. If we look at the middle column, we see these dimensions represented. The
1 kg mass is represented by an ‘M’, and acceleration is represented by length (L) divided by time (T)
squared (look at the cell above force). So, to figure out the units for force, we simply substitute in the base
units for the base dimensions and we get kilogram-meter per second squared (kgm/s2). Because this is a
mouthful, we have given the unit for force a special name <ENTER> - the Newton. Where do you think
that came from? From Sir Isaac Newton himself, since he was one of the first to actually recognize the
existence of things called forces. As you can see on the slide, we have done the same thing for several
other derived units as well. Do you know what the unit for force is in the English system? The pound.
<ENTER>
SLIDE 27: I also want to quickly review SI prefixes and multipliers. <ENTER> Another nice thing about
the SI system is that the conversion to larger magnitudes for the same base quantity is always a power of
ten. In the English system, it is more complicated than that. For example, for the quantity of length, the
base unit is foot. If I want to work in units smaller than a foot, I can convert to inches by multiplying by
12. Or, if I want to work in units larger than the foot, I can convert to yards by dividing by 3. The
conversion factor is different with each conversion within a quantity, and there is no consistency across
quantities. For example, within the quantity of time, I would divide seconds by 60 to work in minutes, by
360 to work in hours, etc. These conversions and names are different than those presented for length. In
the metric system, the prefixes and multipliers are all factors of 10 (10, 100, 1000, etc.) and are used for
all base and derived quantities. For example, for the base quantity of length, the base unit is the meter. To
work in larger magnitudes of length, I can divide the meter by 10 (dekameter - dam), by 100 (hectometer
- hm), by 1000 (kilometer - km), and so on. To work in smaller magnitudes of length, I can multiply the
meter by 10 (decimeter - dm), by 100 (centimeter - cm), by 1000 (millimeter - mm) and so on. The same
pattern is true for time. To work in larger magnitudes of time, I can divide seconds by 10 (dekasecond das), by 100 (hectosecond - hs), by 1000 (kilosecond - ks), and so on. To work in smaller magnitudes of
time, I can multiply seconds by 10 (decisecond - ds), by 100 (centisecond - cs), by 1000 (millisecond ms) and so on. For each quantity, some multipliers are used more often than others, but the principle
holds true across all quantities. For example, when measuring force, we often express force in
meganewtons (MN). <ENTER>
SLIDE 28: Finally, to complete our measurement review, I want to quickly point out some Greek
symbols that we may use this semester to represent the physical quantities we deal with. <ENTER>
The use of symbols in math and physics often causes students a lot of grief, but if you’ll just think of the
symbol as simply a shorthand way of representing a real thing, maybe they won’t be so intimidating. It is
no different than the names that we give to people. When you hear the words “Dr. Browder”, a certain
physical being comes to your mind, or at least some idea that you have learned to associate with the
words “Dr. Browder.” Maybe something like “the really nice professor that everyone talks about that
teaches PEP 300.” That is no different than learning that “torque” is the name that we give to “the ability
of a force to create rotation.” When we use the lower case of tau () to represent torque, that is no
different than shortening “Dr. Browder” to “Dr. B”, as many of my students do. It is just a symbol to
simplify the representation of a real thing. Several other symbols we will use this semester are lower case
alpha () for angular acceleration, upper case delta () for “change in”, lower case theta () for angular
position & displacement, and so on. Hopefully, reviewing this information will make these symbols less
intimidating. <ENTER>
SLIDE 29: So, after all that, can you answer the question “How does this course fit into the study of
kinesiology?” <ENTER>
SLIDE 30: Hopefully, you will say that “this course is one that attempts to teach me basic knowledge in
two of the subdisciplines of kinesiology: functional anatomy and biomechanics. This course will teach me
about muscles, joints, and bones, and how they help cause human movement and how they are affected by
movement. This course will also teach me about forces and how they interact to cause movement of and
by the human body. This course does not represent the entire discipline of kinesiology, but is simply one
piece of the knowledge base in human movement that will make me more effective in my career as I try
to teach people how to move more safely, more effectively, and more efficiently.” Is that what you would
say? <ENTER>
SLIDE 31: As a result of this course you will
• be able to answer, in part, the following questions:
• What causes movement?
• How can a movement be changed to improve performance and/or prevent injury?
• learn the language of kinesiology and gain basic knowledge about movement causes and
outcomes.
• develop observation, analytical, and evaluative skills necessary for analyzing human movement.
<ENTER>
SLIDE 32: Specifically, you will be able to <ENTER>
1. Explain the roles that the subdisciplines of functional anatomy and biomechanics play in the
study of human movement. <ENTER>
2. Demonstrate knowledge of how skeletal and muscular architecture and function interact to create
forces and torques that contribute to injury and human movement performance. <ENTER>
<ENTER>
SLIDE 33:
3. Demonstrate knowledge of how the human body and the external environment interact to create
the forces and torques necessary that contribute to human performance and musculoskeletal
injury. <ENTER>
4. Identify structural and mechanical factors that limit successful performance in human movement
activities. <ENTER> <ENTER>
SLIDE 34:
5. Perform a systematic qualitative anatomical analysis of human movement activities or skills in
sport, dance, exercise, rehabilitation, work, and daily living. <ENTER>
SLIDE 35: Questions? <ENTER>
SLIDE 36: Our next lecture topic will be

Lecture Topic #2
o Subtopic A: Basic Kinematic Concepts
Make sure you read the textbook readings listed in the semester calendar for this topic, and review the
study guide (terminiology & objectives) and lecture outlines.