ABSTRACT
Human movement or motion can be classified as either linear or angular motion. Most movements within biomechanics are a combination of translation and rotation. This leads to a description that is termed general motion. Linear motion (or translation) is movement along a line which may be either straight or curved and where all the body parts are moving in the same direction at the same speed. This can be classified as either rectilinear motion (motion in a straight line) or curvilinear motion (motion in a curved line). Angular motion (which will be discussed in the next section) involves movement around an axis (either imaginary or real) with all the body parts (or individual body parts) moving through the same angle at the same time. Fig. A2.2 identifies these types of motion in more detail.
