Biomechanical Assessment

The assessment may examine alignment, range of motion, balance, strength, movement timing, and task-specific technique. Methods range from visual observation and manual measurements to pressure platforms, force plates, motion capture, or wearable sensors. The selected tasks should match the question being asked.

Biomechanical findings are descriptions of movement under defined conditions. Speed, footwear, surface, fatigue, instructions, previous experience, and measurement equipment can change what is observed. A pattern that appears during one task does not automatically apply to every daily or sport activity.

Gait analysis is one type of biomechanical assessment focused on walking or running. A broader musculoskeletal assessment can also include squatting, reaching, jumping, or isolated joint movements. Measurements can identify asymmetries or loading patterns, but a difference from a reference value is not, by itself, a diagnosis or a prediction.

Kinematics describes motion, such as joint angles and segment speed, while kinetics describes forces and moments associated with that motion. An assessment may include one or both. Keeping these domains separate helps avoid mistaking a visible movement pattern for a directly measured force.

Joint motion can be described in anatomical planes, but real movement usually combines several planes at once. A two-dimensional video captures only the plane visible to the camera, whereas three-dimensional systems estimate movement across multiple axes with their own modelling assumptions.

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