Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

[Mark Goss-Sampson]

Hi all
On a similar note to Moshes 'Biomechanics in the 21st Century' - based on a similar student question - which publication / research paper do you think has had the highest practical impact in the biomechanics of human movement analysis in the last 25 years?
Mark

[Ross Miller]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

Hi Mark,

Hard to say since the field has broadened considerably in the last 25 years. A few that have been particularly "impactful" in my own work and choices in training/research:

Anderson FC and Pandy MG (2001). Dynamic optimization of human walking. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 123, 381-390.

Crowninshield RD and Brand RA (1981). A physiologically based criterion of muscle force prediction in locomotion. Journal of Biomechanics, 14, 793-801.

Hamill J, Van Emmerik REA, Heiderscheit BC, and Li L (1999). A dynamical systems approach to lower extremity running injuries. Clinical Biomechanics, 14, 297-308.

Neptune RR, Wright IC, and van den Bogert AJ (2000). The influence of orthotic devices and vastus medialis strength and timing on patellofemoral loads during running. Clinical Biomechanics, 15, 611-618.

Todorov E and Jordan MI (2002). Optimal feedback control as a theory of motor coordination. Nature Neuroscience, 5, 1226-1235.

Umberger BR, Gerritsen KGM, and Martin PE (2003). A model of human muscle energy expenditure. Computer Methods in Biomechanics & Biomedical Engineering, 6, 99-111.

edit: Crowninshield & Brand is a little over 25 years old I guess =)

Ross

[Paul S Glazier]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

Zernicke and colleagues published a paper recently asking a similar type of question: http://journals.humankinetics.com/kr...rch-on-society. Certainly worth a read!

[Ton van den Bogert]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

One way to measure impact is by citations. According to Google Scholar, the following paper has been cited 1397 times:

Zajac, FE. Muscle and tendon: properties, models, scaling, and application to biomechanics and motor control. Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering 1989, 17(4):359-411.

It is a review paper, so perhaps not eligible to be the research paper with the most impact, but it has greatly influenced all of the musculoskeletal modeling work in the past two decades.

Felix Zajac published another review paper in the same year that deals with how muscle forces move the skeleton. This one has had fewer citations (340) but may even be more important because it presented, for the first time, a rigorous mechanical definition of muscle function that is now known as Induced Acceleration Analysis. Here it is:

Zajac FE, Gordon ME. Determining Muscle's Force and Action in Multi-Articular Movement. Exercise & Sport Sciences Reviews 1989, 17: 187-230.

I also noticed that Mark asked for "practical impact" so perhaps we should look outside of theoretical modeling and more at clinical or sports impact. Ross Miller and I are both mostly modelers, so we need suggestions from other areas of biomechanics.

Here are two from orthopedic biomechanics that have had a significant impact on my own work:

Woo SL-Y, Hollis JM, Adams DJ, Lyon RM, Takai S. Tensile properties of the human femur-anterior cruciate ligament-tibia complex: The effects of specimen age and orientation Am J Sports Med June 1991 19 217-225. (588 citations)

Rudy TW, Livesay GA, Woo SL-Y, Fu FH. A combined robotic/universal force sensor approach to determine in situ forces of knee ligaments. J Biomech 1996, 29(10):1358-1360. (177 citations)

That last paper is one of several in 1995-1996 that introduced robotic joint testing, now a well established technique in joint mechanics research. I still remember how Savio Woo presented this in a seminar at the University of Calgary. It was and is such a clever and influential idea.

In human movement analysis, my two favorites are:

Winter DA, Energy generation and absorption at the ankle and knee during fast, natural, and slow cadences. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 1983(175):147-154. (247 citations)

Kadaba MP, Ramakrishnan HK, Wootten ME. Measurement of lower extremity kinematics during level walking. Journal of Orthopaedic Research 1990, 8(3): 383–392. (899 citations)

While I was looking in Google Scholar, I also noticed that David Winter's book "Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement" has been cited 4251 times. Huge impact but not a research article.

Could it be that the highest impact papers in biomechanics are about methodology, rather than about specific research findings? Or maybe that is just a reflection of my own interests.

Ton van den Bogert

[Sean Flanagan]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

From a practical/clinical impact standpoint, I'd say just about every ACL injury prevention program these days is based on this original research article (249 citations):

Markolf KL, Burchfield DI, Shapiro MM, Shepard ME, Finerman GAM, Slauterbeck JL. Combined knee loading states that generate high anterior cruciate ligament forces. Journal of Orthopaedic Research. Nov 1995;13(6):930-935.

[Duane Knudson]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

Interesting quesiton. I have been thinking about this recently after the Zernicke paper in the inaugral issue of Kinesiology Review. A couple years ago I surveyed ISBS members about what they considered the most influential papers and books in applied sports biomechanics. Specifically I asked for the top three original research and books in the field. There was not a great response rate, but the respondents were quite diverse in their opinions about what represented important work in the field. Some refused to answer saying it was too difficult to select three, while others ignored the question and went ahead and nominated review papers, technical notes, and basic science papers much like the responses above. The only papers that received multiple nominations were three experimental papers (Cavagna et al. 1968; Feltner & Dapena, 1986; Fleisig et al., 1995) and four review papers (Bartlett, 1997; Novacheck, 1998; Putnam, 1991, 1993). Like some prevsious bibliometric studies I have done, the results confirmed the comments above that biomechanics, although quite young, has interestes/applications that are quite diverse. Journals and papers that are considered important to scholars are highly influenced by the area of research, sport/movement, or disciplinary training. A link to my paper at the ISBS proceedings web archives is: http://w4.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/art...File/4585/4272

[Ross Miller]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

There's also the recent work on energy recycling and powered prostheses, which is pretty exciting:

Collins SH and Kuo AD (2010). Recycling energy to restore impaired ankle function during human walking. PLoS ONE, 5, e9307.

Donelan JM, Li Q, Naing V, Hoffer JA, Weber DJ, and Kuo AD (2008). Biomechanical energy harvesting: generating electricity during walking with minimal user effort. Science, 319, 807-810.

Herr HM and Grabowski AM (2012). Bionic ankle-foot prosthesis normalizes walking gait for persons with leg amputation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279, 457-464.

[Michael Orendurff]

Re: Highest impact paper in biomechanics relation to human movement analysis

Davis RI, Ounpuu S, Tyburski D, Gage J. A gait data collection and reduction technique. Hum Mov Sci. 1991;10(5):575-587.
733 citations according to Google Scholar.

However, perhaps we are not looking at the right metric for impact: McAlister FA, Lawson FM, Good AH, Armstrong PW. Evaluating research in cardiovascular medicine: citation counts are not sufficient. Circulation. 2011;123(9):1038-1043.