Hi everyone, it's Dr. A and in this video we'll begin our study of kinesiology and we'll do so by discussing information that may serve as an introduction to some and a refresher for others. But nonetheless, it's important information to know to help ensure that you have a solid foundation in which to build upon. in your study of kinesiology.
So let's start by posing a key question, and that is, what is kinesiology exactly? And now that we have that question before us, let's build and develop our answer together. To start, let's look specifically at the term anatomy. As you may already know, anatomy is the study of the body structure.
But if we want to be even more explicit, this term derives from the Greek language and it means to literally cut open. So anatomy is analogous to dissection, the opening up of the body, but not just to open it, to study its structure as well. Now let's look at a related term, physiology.
And again, you may already know that physiology refers to the study of how various components of the body function. But here's the thing, we can't say that we have a full understanding of the body. by studying structure alone. And neither can we say we have a full understanding of the body by studying function alone. We need both.
But something unique happens when we go beyond understanding and start applying. And that something unique is explored in the study of kinesiology. So let's revisit our key question from earlier, which is what is kinesiology exactly?
Here's our answer. Kinesiology is the study of movement, and so more than just understanding the human body, kinesiology provides us with an opportunity to apply what we know about both structure and function to movement. So now that we have a better understanding of the term kinesiology, let's explore it a little further. Let's keep in mind that kinesiology is our overarching term or discipline.
which we now know is the study of movement. And underneath it we have two primary subdivisions. So let's tackle the first one which is kinetics.
It is the study regarding the forces that either produce or resist movement. So for example, let's imagine we have a gentleman who's moving, and let's consider that he's having to push a box. We could, under the discipline of kinetics, determine how much friction or resistance exists actually moving the box.
And as a result, we could calculate how much force he should apply to the box in order to physically move it. Now let's tackle the second subdivision of kinesiology, which is kinematics. We define kinematics this way.
It is the study of movement without regard to the forces that either produce or resist movement. So let's expound on this with an example. Let's imagine that we have an individual who's completing a seated Russian twist, which is the exercise pictured here.
As it pertains to the study of kinematics, we'd be giving attention to the movement taking place at his trunk, which is a rotational movement, specifically rotation to his right side. We might also give attention to the flexed position of his knees. Going a step further, we could also measure the joint angle in which his knees are flexed utilizing a goniometer, a tool that specifically measures joint range of motion. So in a nutshell, kinematics focuses on studying and analyzing the type of movement taking place during a given activity, the position of the body or its segments, and as we'll discover later on, the direction in which the movement occurs.
Now let's delve into the subdivision of kinematics a little bit further. And what we'll see is that we also have subdivisions of kinematics as well. First, we have osteokinematics. And what I'd like you to give your attention to here is that the root word is osteo, which refers to bone. And if we can remember that, it will help us remember that osteokinematics relates to movement of the body that is produced by bones that form a variety of joints.
Next, we have arthrokinematics. And again, if we look at the root word, which is arthro, it will help us understand the type of movement that's taking place here. Specifically, the word arthro means joint. But specifically with arthrokinematics, we're referring to the small or minute movements that occur within and between joint surfaces.