MECHANICAL PRINCIPLES: KINEMATICS

Prepared By: Floriza P. de Leon, PTRP

Introduction
Kinesiology study of motion
Combining theories of and principles from anatomy, physiology, psychology, anthropology, and mechanics

Biomechanics application of mechanics to the living human body

Statics concerned with bodies at rest or in uniform motion Dynamics treats bodies that are accelerating or decelerating

Note: Since most of the motion with which physical and occupational therapists deal therapeutically is slow and lacks rapid accelerations, the concepts from mechanics applicable to clinical practice using principles from statics. Note: The purpose of studying clinical kinesiology is to understand the forces acting on the human body and to manipulate these forces in treatment procedures so that human performance may be improved and further injury may be prevented. Kinematics science of motion of bodies in space
Movement of a single point in the body (COG) Position of several segments (UE) Position of a single joint or motions that occur between adjacent joint surfaces

Subdivisions of kinematics
Osteokinematics concerned with the movements of the bones Arthrokinematics addresses the movements occurring between joint surfaces

Anatomic Body Position

Defined as standing erect with the head, toes, and palms of the hands facing forward and with the fingers extended. 3 imaginary planes are arranged perpendicular to each other through the body, with their axes intersecting at the COG of the body (slightly anterior to the S2). These planes are called cardinal planes of the body.

Frontal Plane
AKA Coronal plane (XY plane) Parallel to the frontal bones and divides the body into front and back parts Movement that occurs: abduction and adduction Abduction is a position or motion of the segment away from the midline, regardless of which segment moves. Adduction is position or motion toward the midline Motion of abduction and adduction occur around the Z axis

Sagittal Plane
AKA midsagittal plane (YZ plane) It is vertical and divides the body into right and left sides Joint motions occurring in the sagittal plane are flexion and extension Flexion indicates two segments approach each other Extension occurs when two segments move away from each other Hyperextension is an extension that goes beyond the anatomic reference position Motions of flexion and extension occurs around the x axis

Horizontal Plane
AKA transverse plane (XZ plane) Divides the body into upper and lower parts Rotation occurs in this plane around the vertical y axis Internal rotation (inward or medial rotation) is a transverse rotation oriented to the anterior surface of the body.
Pronation is the term used for IR of the forearm

External Rotation (outward or lateral rotation) is in the opposite direction and is oriented to the posterior surface of the body
Supination is the term used at the forearm

Special Cases
Secondary Planes sagitttal, frontal and horizontal planes may be laid through points other than the COG of the body In the hand, the sagittal plane is centered through the 3 rd segment In the foot, the sagittal plane is centered through the 2 nd segment At the wrist, the motion of abduction is called radial deviation and adduction is called ulnar deviation Movement of the dorsum of the foot toward the tibia is called dorsiflexion, and the movement of the sole of the foot away from the tibia is called plantarflexion The thumb is also a special case because it is rotated 90 deg from the plane of the hand. Thus flexion/extension occurs in the frontal plane and abduction/adduction in the sagittal plane

Goniometry
It is an application of the coordinate system to a joint to measure the degrees of motion present in each plane of a joint. Two systems of recording exist:
1st uses zero deg as reference point for the standard anatomic position 2nd uses 180 deg as the reference point for the standard anatomic position

Normal individual ranges of motion vary with bony structure, muscular, development, body fat, ligamentous integrity, gender and age

Normal End Feel

AKA Physiologic end feel The resistance that is felt by the examiner to further motion at the end of its ROM (felt when the joint is moved passively) Described as hard, firm or soft
Hard/bony felt when motion is stopped by contact of bone on bone Firm/springy limitation is from ligamentous, capsular, or muscle structures.

Soft occurs with contact of adjacent soft tissues

Pathologic End feel occur at a different place in the ROM or have an end feel that is not characteristic of the joint Empty end feel pathologic type denoting pain on motion but absence of resistance

Rotary and Translatory Motion

Rotary/angular/rotation
Movements occurring around an axis or a pivot point

Takes place about a fixed or relatively fixed axis

These motions are called rotary because every point on a segment adjacent to the joint follows the arc of a circle, the center of which is the joint axis

Translatory
Movements of a body in which all of its parts move in the same direction with equal velocity It can be either be in a straight line (linear) or follow a curve (curvilinear)

Degrees of Freedom
One degree of freedom
Joints that move in one plane possess one axis and have one degree of freedom

Two degrees of freedom

If a joint has two axes, the segments can move in two planes

Three degrees of freedom

Movements take place about three main axes, all of which pass through the joints center of rotation Maximum number that a single joint can possess in planar motion

Circumduction
Performed during which the moving segment follows the surface of a cone and the tip of the segment traces a circular path Circumduction is characteristic of joints with two and three degrees of freedom but cannot take place in joints with one degree of freedom

There are actually six degrees of freedom

Kinematic chains
Combination of several joints uniting successive segments constitutes a kinematic chain. The more distal segments can have higher degrees of freedom than do proximal ones

Open and Closed Kinematic Chains

Open Kinematic Chains
Distal segment of the chain moves in space

Segments can move independently or not at all

Proximal segment is fixed and the distal segment moves Ex: UE reaching or bringing the hand to the mouth

Closed Kinematic Chains

Distal segment is fixed, and proximal parts move Ex: Crutch walking, Elevating the body using an ovebed trapeze