ABSTRACT
Biomechanics is about movement, and the objective measurement and recording of three-dimensional human movement is a keystone of the discipline. On-line motion analysis is an essential tool for the study of movement in sport and exercise. As with all tools, motion analysis systems need a skilled and knowledgeable operator to get the most from them. The mark of a good biomechanist is having not only the technical skills to operate a system successfully and collect high quality data, but also the scientific training to use the tools available to further our knowledge of human movement in sport and exercise. In sport and exercise biomechanics, research questions typically have an applied focus, with the aim of furthering our knowledge of elite sports performance or the reduction and prevention of injury. The flip-side of this focus is allowing ourselves to be led by technology, collecting huge amounts of data and trying to find relationships between the many variables involved afterwards, without any clear and logical rationale. In such ‘data dredging’, biomechanists are seduced by the advanced technology at their disposal, at the expense of scientific rigour.
