Introduction

Kinesiology is the scholarly study of human movement, and biomechanics is one of the many academic subdisciplines of kinesiology. Biomechanics in kinesiology involves the precise description of human movement and the study of the causes of human movement. The study of biomechanics is relevant to professional practice in many kinesiology professions. The physical educator or coach who is teaching movement technique and the athletic trainer or physical therapist treating an injury use biomechanics to qualitatively analyze movement. The chapters in part I demonstrate the importance of biomechanics in kinesiology and introduce you to key biomechanical terms and principles that will be developed throughout the text. The lab activities associated with part I relate to finding biomechanical knowledge and identifying biomechanical principles in action.