The quest to be the best

A picture to illustrate what I've been blabbering about

This is something I submitted for my schoolwork. If I wrote something that is wrong/hard to understand please let me know. Enjoy the revival of my blog

How do you apply Biomechanics to your daily life?

First, let me define what biomechanics is. It is the study of movement of the human body. Biomechanics might seem like a technical jargon but it actually is not because if you observe closely, we humans have very similar yet different bio mechanism. What I mean by this is even though we walk the same (to the naked eye), There are several aspects that needs to be analyzed such as gait and degree of range of motion (ROM) for joints.

It is this analysis that is the epitome of sports and exercise sciences. It is said that no two people have the same thumbprint but I feel that it extends even further than that. I would go further to say that no two people have the same bio mechanism due to factors such as limb length, Upper and Lower Torso length difference and Motor Control.

The most important reason why people even bother studying about biomechanics is twofold. Firstly it is to improve performance efficiency. Many Olympic World Records have been smashed due to advancement in technology (external equipment, technique refinement) and bio mechanists are trying their best to push the envelope. Secondly it is to predict and prevent overuse injury due to a whole host of factors from daily postural habits to mobility and flexibility (or lack thereof).

This is why people should have a basic idea of bio mechanism for their own health and longevity so that their quality of life is not compromised even as they age. Bio mechanics can totally be applied to daily life. There are countless examples of how we get injured that can be traced to our bio mechanics. There are two types of injuries. Contact and Non contact injury. All non contact injuries can be prevented. The reason why non contact injuries happen is due to bad postural habits (Excessive kyposis, lordosis, Chronic shortening of the hip flexors and hamstrings) and lack of mobility in joints and lastly flexibility in muscles.

In conclusion, I feel that learning and applying bio mechanics should not be limited to athletes but to the average Joe too. It is true that athletes need everything they can get to improve their performance but what we are looking for in the long term is healthy joints and muscles.