Biomechanics

Historical highlights
The XIX th Century: the gait century
Development of science and its applications to human movement during the XIX th century was
influenced by the XVIII th Century, namely: Rousseau, the Watt’s Steam Machine, and the French
Revolution
Development of
sport and leisure
J. J. Rousseau (1712-1778) – Emile (1762) – Revived the
complementarities between body and mind, encouraging the return to
NATURE and PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
J. Watt (1736-1819) – Invented the Steam Machine (1777) – Potentiated
the industrial revolution, the LEISURE time, recreation, and SPORTS
French Revolution (1789) – The end of the monopoly of leisure and
sports by the dominant social classes.
Renewed scientific interest in human locomotion
Historical highlights
The XIX th Century: the gait century
Marey (1838-1904)
Historical highlights
The XIX th Century: the gait century
Renewed scientific interest in human locomotion
Observation
Photography Quantification of human and animal locomotion
Eduard Weber (1795-1881) and Wilhelm Weber (1804-1891) – Published in
1836 the “Die Mechanik der menchlichen Gewerkzeuge” (On the mechanics of
the human gait tools)
Etienne Jules Marey (1838-1904) – Transformed the science
of locomotion from observational to one based on
quantification
Edward Muybridge (1830-1904) – Was introduced to animal
movement analysis by Mr. Stanford (Stanford University),
to explain high speed trot in horses. He produced about
20.000 images of human and animal locomotion.
Historical highlights
The XIX th Century: the gait century
Marey (1838-1904)
Etienne Jules Marey (1838-1904) – Was the first to combine and synchronize kinematic and
kinetic measurements.
Storage and reutilization of elastic energy
He also provide insight into:
Ground reaction forces and CG movement
EMG patterns
Dependency of energy cost on movement characteristics