Journal de biométrie et biostatistique

Biomechanical Modeling of Human Body Movement

Abstract

Tao Xiao and Yun-Feng Fu

The capabilities of the human body motion seem endless, through the long evolutionary process. The progresses made from the first step of a baby to an Olympic performance suggest that human movements have attained perfection in their specialized functions. However, the ability to predict how the whole body will move and how it will exchange forces with environment is becoming very vital for performances optimization or development of devices or safety; particularly in the fields of research of sport sciences, ergonomics, safety, clinical sciences and industries. Modeling human body motion is a huge issue due to the requirement of multifaceted researches obviously extremely diverse to apply. Indeed, they require the understanding of internal/external biological and physical principles that make possible and guide human movement and coordination, as well as, the capacity of giving them a realistic representation with high-fidelity. Since over 30 years of research Biomechanics, the research area studying human motion has undertaken progress in the modeling human motion. But the results are mitigated. The purpose of this review is to report the state of knowledge and progress of the biomechanics regarding its application to the field of sport.