BIOMECHANICS AS AN INTERDISCIPLINE - Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement - page 2

1.1 MEASUREMENT, DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS,
AND ASSESSMENT

The scientific approach as applied to biomechanics has been characterized
by a fair amount of confusion. Some descriptions of human movement have
been passed off as assessments, some studies involving only measurements
have been falsely advertised as analyses, and so on. It is, therefore, important
to clarify these terms. Any quantitative assessment of human movement must
be preceded by a measurement and description phase, and if more meaningful
diagnostics are needed, a biomechanical analysis is usually necessary. Most
of the material in this text is aimed at the technology of measurement and
description and the modeling process required for analysis. The final inter-
pretation, assessment, or diagnosis is movement specific and is limited to the
examples given.
Figure 1.1, which has been prepared for the assessment of the physically
handicapped, depicts the relationships between these various phases of assess-
ment. All levels of assessment involve a human being and are based on his or
her visual observation of a patient or subject, recorded data, or some resulting
biomechanical analysis. The primary assessment level uses direct observation,
which places tremendous “overload” even on the most experienced observer.
All measures are subjective and are almost impossible to compare with those
obtained previously. Observers are then faced with the tasks of documenting
(describing) what they see, monitoring changes, analyzing the information,

Figure 1.1 Schematic diagram showing the three levels of assessment of human

movement.