Mechanical Misconceptions: Have we lost the "mechanics" in "sports biomechanics"?

Abstract

Biomechanics principally stems from two disciplines, mechanics and biology. However, both the application and language of the mechanical constructs are not always adhered to in sports biomechanics, which can lead to errors and misunderstandings within the scientific literature and when biomechanics is translated to other domains. Here we address three topics that seem to be common points of confusion and misconception in the literature: 1) joint reaction forces as they pertain to loads actually experienced by biological joints; 2) the partitioning of scalar quantities into directional components; and 3) weightlessness, microgravity, hypergravity, and weight alteration. For each topic, we discuss how mechanical concepts have been commonly misapplied, the consequences of those misapplications, and how the sports biomechanics community can collectively enhance the quality and rigor of our science by more carefully adhering to and leveraging concepts of classical mechanics.