ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the discipline of biomechanics. It describes the fundamental methods of analysing and interpreting biomechanical data. The chapter provides a practical worksheet on the effect of increase in speed on stride length, stride rate and relative stride length in running, which is designed to give students practice in collecting, analysing, and interpreting biomechanical data, as well as report writing. The worksheet includes example data and analysis, along with data recording sheets for use by students to help bring the subject to life. The chapter establishes stride length, stride rate and relative stride length data for subjects running on a treadmill over a speed range of 1.5 m/s-3.5 m/s and to produce the corresponding stride length-speed, stride rate-speed and relative stride length-speed graphs. The subject's height is measured with the subject standing upright without shoes and looking straight ahead.
