Quick thought regarding the recent 'catcher' post and response (point 2.
below)...

If you were interested in cellular activity you would be advised to use a
microscope... in other words if you use simplistic limited means to view an
activity you essentially get simplistic limited information. In this day
and age, video analysis (2-D and 3-D) is essential if we are to fully
understand movement and the ramifications... especially when dealing with
performance and injury. The ability to perform even basic kinematics, hence
quantifying the motion, pushes our understanding and assessments of that
motion to new levels. Once we have an in-depth understanding of both
performance and injury parameters we can then formulate the appropriate
course of action to train or treat... JUST BECAUSE OUR ANALYSIS IS INVOLVED
DOES NOT MEAN THAT OUR COURSE OF ACTION NEEDS TO BE COMPLICATED, ONLY THAT
IT IS BASED ON A HIGHER LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING.

I think in Tim's case, he is better off using the full range of skills he is
developing including mathematics, kinesiology, biomechanics and hopefully
some basic mechanical engineering.

I would like to hear other opinions!

Sincerely,
Chris Welch


At 10:21 AM 8/14/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Biomech'ers;
>Comments on two issues: early locomotion studies and analyzing snack
>cake catching.
>1) The earliest attempt to analyze locomotion I know of was Aristotle.
>See his, "On the Motion of Animals," where he describes the movements
>of many animals, including humans.
>
>2) Regarding the analysis of catching Little Debbie snack cakes. First,
>Tim, congratulations on your insight and welcome to ergonomics. Second,
>consider the purpose of the video analysis. A full-fledged biomechanical
>analysis, even 2D, requires a high degree of technical sophistication on the
>part of the equipment and the experimenter -- and the results may not be
>directly usable to determine good cake-catching abilities. Plus, whatever
>results are found need to be relayed and taught to trainees. Since the
>ultimate purpose is to train new employees, in particular to get them
>past opening day jitters, let me suggest an alternate route. Get your hands
>on DV Knudson and CS Morrison's book, "Qualitative Analysis of Human
>Movement" (Human Kinetics, 1997). Here you can learn how to analyze
>motion without the technological barriers, and further, learn how to use
>this information in teaching the trainees. Knudson and Morrison primarily
>use sports skills for examples, but the techniques can be applied to any
>realm of human movement.
>
>Jeff Ives, Ph.D.
>Dept. Exercise and Sport Sciences
>Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850
>jives@ithaca.edu
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe send UNSUBSCRIBE BIOMCH-L to LISTSERV@nic.surfnet.nl
>For information and archives: http://www.bme.ccf.org/isb/biomch-l
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe send UNSUBSCRIBE BIOMCH-L to LISTSERV@nic.surfnet.nl
For information and archives: http://www.bme.ccf.org/isb/biomch-l
-------------------------------------------------------------------