Biomechanics is is one of the old sciences that carries its name given by the Ancient Greeks β委ος μηχανικ萎 – ‘life mechanics’.
There are a variety of definitions such as:
It combines the application of mechanical principles to the biological systems
(adapted from Wikipedia)
Considered to be the best formulated definition is the following text:
"Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems by means of the methods of mechanics".
[Hatze, Herbert. (1974) The meaning of the term biomechanics. Journal of Biomechanics, 7:189-190]
Initially the word Biomechanics was always associated with the motion, walk and the specific study of the Gait. Today it represents a wide area of studies starting from the gait, and including biomechanics of orthopaedics, clinical, skeletal muscle, injury, tissue, cell biomechanics, etc.
At its start the biomechanics concentrated on the macro motion of the human or animal skeletal system while these days the science is continuing to uncover behaviour of the tissues at different hierarchical levels to better understand the biomechanics of some cells or viruses spreading disease. A relatively new area where the biomechanics plays an important role is regenerative medicine, which supports studies related to cell behaviour in an artificial environment of implants such as non-cemented implants that eliminate the possibility of loosening of the implant once the bone cells penetrate through the nanopores on the surface of the implant.
Mechanics principles deal with the study of the system motion, which is induced by forces, either external or generated by the muscles. Consideration of the living system requires adaptation of the relatively simple principles of mechanics to the intricacy of living systems thus the analysis and solution of the system becomes complex. Engineering can help in many ways to improve the medical care by introducing a modern technological approach.
