BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS

TO UNDERSTAND INJURY
DEVELOPMENT
 STRESS

intensity of force per unit area of tissue

• stress= F (Newton)
A (m ) 2

• ↑ AREA -↓ FORCE
• ↓ AREA -↑ FORCE
 TISSUES ARE GENERALLY
ANISOTROPIC
COMPRESSIVE FORCES- occurs when opposing forces
produce a squeezing effect on a body

TENSILE/TENSION- occurs when a force pulls on a

body, producing a stretching effect

SHEAR FORCES- occurs when a force

attempts to slide bodies across each other, act parallel or tangent to a
plane passing on an object

Bone: strongest in COMPRESSION>TENSION>SHEAR

COMPRESSION
TENSION
SHEAR STRESS
 TISSUE RESPONSES TO
STRESS

• Follow Wolff’s law on Bone Transformation

• By Julius Wolff (1892) on bone modelling & remodelling

• Wolff’s Law states that bone tissue adapts to the level

of stress imposed upon it. The level of adaptation
reflects the level of typical loading
 PATHOLOGIC PHYSIOLOGIC
UNDERLOAD PHYSIOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC
TRAINING
LOADING OVERLOAD

LOW STRESS CONTINUUM HIGH

DISTRESS EUSTRESS DISTRESS

ATROPHY INJURY
Pathologic Under- Physiologic Pathologic
load Training Overload
• Continued LOW • Stress > yield strength • Level of loading
loading (Inactivity) of Tissue causing causes
• Causes DETRAINING MICRODAMAGE SUBSTANTIAL
EFFECT • Initiates TISSUE DAMAGE
• Leads to ATROPHY REMODELLING • May be a single
• Weaker structures, • Leads to application of stress
prone to Injury HYPERTROPHY (Traumatic)
• Tissues respond to GRADUALLY INCREASED
MECHANICAL STRESS by becoming larger/stronger

HIGH
INJURY LIKELY
STRESS

SAFE

LOW
LOW HIGH
FREQUENCY
 OVER-USE INJURIES

• Occur following REPEATED application of stress

LESS THAN required to cause Injury.

• TIME FOR REMODELLING fetermines whether

imposed stress will cause a TRAINING EFFECT or
LEAD to INJURY
• With adequate rest, training effects follow Tissue Damage
• If stress is re-imposed without providing adequate time for
tissue repair, overuse injuries will develop
 HOW TO PREVENT INJURIES

• Determine the TISSUE THRESHOLD

• Decrease MAGNITUDE & provide rest for REMODELLING

• However, may be difficult to determine Tissue

Threshold because:
• Threshold differs in Tissues
• Bone> Tendon> Ligament> Cartilage
• Threshold differs within a tissue
• Bone strongest in compression> Tension> Shear stress
• There are individual differences
• Rate of recovery
• Tissue remodelling
• The Study of Tissue Threshold and Biomechanics of
Injury affects establishing Training Guidelines

• Example:
• Reducing the number of minutes a player can play in a
game and the number of games per week
 FACTORS RELATED TO
INJURY DEVELOPMENT
• INTRINSIC FACTORS
• Characteristics that describe the individual
• Related to individual ability to cope with imposed mechanical stress
• E.g. anthropometrics, skeletal alignment, fitness level, previous injury

• EXTRINSIC FACTORS
• Characteristics of the TASK & the ENVIRONMENT in which it is
performed
• E.g. Nature of Task, Performance of task, movement patterns involved,
frequency, speed, duration of performance, environmental factors-
surface played on, rules, skill level , # of opponents etc,
 INJURY

INTRINSIC
FACTOR
THRESHOLD
Threshold value for
stress TRAINING ZONE
that may cause injury

EXTRINSIC Reflect the potential

FACTOR for performance to
THRESHOLD impose stress