Introduction
It is almost impossible to describe or even analyse the movement. Too many factors play a role in studying the phenomenon of athletic movement. Let’s look at a person running after a bus, for example, and compare this sporting action with a 100-meter run final of the Olympic Games.
A quasi identical movement seen from the outside nevertheless fulfils apparently innumerable different intentions. In order to be able to realise a sporting movement, it must always fulfil a purpose. A forest run is just as little carried out for the sake of sport as a marathon. Be it health, performance improvement, body shaping, social aspects or other things, a sporting movement always needs a purpose.
Classification of movements
Psychological, social, pedagogical and other aspects must be implied in the description of movements. Human movement is divided into everyday movement and sports movement. The latter are all movements where the goal of coping with everyday actions is not the main focus.
Running after a missed bus is thus an everyday movement, although the adaptation effect it produces is the same as that of sports movement. Sporting activity therefore always aims at maintaining or improving physical performance. Furthermore, a sporting movement is divided into external and internal aspects. The external aspect refers to the objective appearance of movements (what is visible from the outside). The inner aspect refers to the processes that take place within the human body during movement.
Definition
The theory of movement is part of sports science, which deals with the manifestation of athletic movement. In order to systematise a sporting movement, a number of prerequisites must be met. In recent years, four different ways of looking at a movement have developed.
In the biomechanical view of movement, the sporting movements and the athlete are subject to the biophysical laws. The holistic view of movement means that the overall sporting movement is more than the sum of the individual movements (see MEINEL’s morphological approach). A movement is regarded as functional if it is subject to a certain purpose fulfilment.
The capability-based approach focuses on the prerequisite that an athlete needs to perform movements. Personal disposition and performance level are decisive aspects of this approach. This topic may also be of interest to you: Physical Education
- Biomechanical approach
- Holistic approach
- Functional approach
- Capability oriented approach
Kinesiology vs. Human Movement Science
In the word kinesiology is the word teaching. Thus one should assume that a movement theory deals exclusively with the didactic aspect of movement. However, kinesiology is much more than just teaching the movement.
The theory of movement is divided into general and special movement theory. The general movement theory deals with aspects that are not specific to a particular sport, while the special movement theory deals with processes that depend on the sport. The kinesis from these two areas results in the science of movement. Kinesiology thus belongs to the science of movement. Other authors use the concept of kinesiology as synonyms for the science of movement, while others replaced the concept of kinesiology with the concept of kinesiology.
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