Alphonsus Chong's Personal Wiki

Biomechanics is a scientific discipline which studies biological systems, such as the human body, by the methods of mechanical engineering. Since gait is a mechanical process which is performed by a biological system, it is appropriate to study it in this way.

Time: Interval (ms) = 1000/frequency (Hz)

Mass vs weight (kg – measures mass NOT weight)

Force is a vector

The whole science of mechanical engineering is based on the three laws of force propounded by Sir Isaac Newton, which may be paraphrased as follows.

Newton’s first law: A body will continue in a state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is acted upon by an external force.

Newton’s second law: An external force will cause a body to accelerate in the direction of the force. The acceleration (a) is equal to the size of the force (F) divided by the mass (m) of the object, as in the equation: a = F/m

Newton’s third law: To every action there is a reaction, which is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.