game on
science of sports
Mechanics of
Movement
by Amy Presley
For the estimated 60 million children and youth who are
involved in organized athletics, the benefits of their participation
are great—team and individual sports can be enjoyable, increase
self-esteem, provide opportunities for peer socialization and
also improve general fitness. But as youth sports become more
competitive, the pressure for young athletes to engage in highintensity training and sport specialization is also on the rise, and
this can lead to an increase in overuse injuries and burnout.
The Research
At Auburn University, a research team is currently studying how
the body moves, particularly when it comes to sports. It’s called
the science of Kinesiology, and researchers hope their findings
on human movement in the lab can translate into practical
ways to help athletes reduce their risk of injury and improve
performance on the field.
What exactly is ‘Kinesiology’?
Kinesiology is the study of human movement, and how the
body works as an efficient machine to perform desired tasks.
Dr. Gretchen Oliver, director of the Sports Medicine and
Movement Lab at Auburn University, describes the body as a
kinetic chain, like “a rubber band man,” as if every segment of
the body is connected by rubber bands, and every rubber band is
the same tautness.
Oliver and her team are currently studying the throwing
mechanics of youth baseball pitchers and hoping to identify
injury predictors and gain some insight into how mechanics can
change as the pitchers age. “We have youth pitchers come in and
throw a simulated game up to their age restricted pitch count,”
she said.
The team observes the range of motion and strength in a player’s
hip and shoulder before and after the pitching session, as well as
their throwing mechanics for the first and last inning of pitches,
to determine if the mechanics change once the player fatigues.
“We hope that this information can help us determine future
injury predictors, as well as have an understanding of how
mechanics change over maturity,” Oliver said. “Our primary
focus is injury prevention and performance enhancement in
youth. Ultimately, we want youth staying active and injury free.”
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“So any movement of the foot is going to alter all the other
segments. Understanding the body as a kinetic chain (or rubber
band man) allows us to better understand how movement
efficiency is a total body activity,” Oliver said. “Understanding
normal movement allows us to identify abnormal movement and
provide the appropriate corrective strategies.”
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