Resources

This book looks beyond humans: it explains how animals walk, swim and fly, and which mechanical principles lie behind it. I recommend it to students and researchers who want to understand movement more fundamentally than pure human biomechanics often does. It is not a book for everyday training practice, but it sharpens the eye for principles such as energy storage and gait transitions, which also transfer to sport and prosthetics.

This is the standard work you keep coming back to in biomechanics: kinematics, kinetics, inverse dynamics, muscle activity and motor control in one book. I recommend it to anyone who wants to do biomechanics scientifically, especially at master’s and PhD level. As a very first book it is rather dense, but as a reference it remains indispensable. A solid grounding in mechanics and mathematics helps when reading it.

If you want to know how measurements and analyses are actually done in biomechanics, this is the best place to start. The book guides you through measurement methods, signal processing and the basics of analysis without assuming a lot of mathematics up front. I recommend it to bachelor’s and master’s students and to anyone collecting movement data for the first time. Afterwards, the step to Winter is much easier.

This book explains how muscles, tendons, bones, cartilage and ligaments work mechanically and how they respond to loading. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what happens in the body when forces act: students of sport science and biomechanics, but also physiotherapists and coaches interested in tissue. It is demanding but readable if you bring a basic knowledge of anatomy.

The book describes how injuries arise mechanically: which loads damage bones, ligaments, tendons or muscles, and why? I recommend it to anyone working on injury prevention, load management or protective equipment, for example in sport science, physiotherapy or product development. It complements Nigg & Herzog well because it draws attention to the limits of tissue tolerance.

The handbook brings together the state of para sport science from many disciplines, from training and technique to medicine. I recommend it to anyone who works with or researches athletes with disabilities. My own chapter covers long jump with a below-the-knee prosthesis. It is a book for looking things up rather than reading cover to cover.

Here anatomy is not taught as memorising structures but from the point of view of movement: which muscle does what, and why does it matter in sport? I recommend it to sport science students and to coaches who want to understand movement analysis better. It is a good first step into anatomy before reaching for a large atlas.

The Prometheus is the atlas in which you can look up every structure of the musculoskeletal system, with excellent illustrations and a clear structure. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn anatomy in detail or look things up later, for example in sport science, physiotherapy or medicine. For a very first introduction it is too extensive, but as a reference on the shelf it is worth it.

The book combines physiology, training and prevention and explains how the body responds to physical load. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the physiological and medical side beyond mechanics, for example sport students and coaches. It is a textbook rather than a quick reference, and it pays off especially when you take on one chapter at a time.

Andy Field explains statistics with humour and in small steps, always using concrete examples. I recommend the book to anyone who has to learn statistics for a thesis or study and is a little apprehensive about it. It assumes hardly any prior knowledge and leads from simple tests to more complex models. SPSS is helpful, but the concepts can be understood without the software too.

Andy Field’s videos go with his book and explain the same concepts again in a different way. I recommend them to anyone who prefers listening to reading or who hasn’t quite grasped a chapter in the book yet. They are free and combine well with the book.

This lecture series emerged during the Covid period at the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports (ISBS), when conferences could no longer take place as usual. I have been active in this society myself for ten years and therefore recommend it wholeheartedly. The lectures are free and give an insight into current topics in sports biomechanics. They are aimed at students, practitioners and researchers who want to stay up to date.

OpenSim is the standard open software for musculoskeletal modelling and simulation. I recommend it to master’s students and researchers who want to estimate joint loads and muscle forces beyond pure movement measurement. The learning curve is steep, but there are many tutorials and an active community. For quick analyses it is overkill, but for scientific questions it is often the right choice.

OpenCap makes movement analysis possible without a lab: with smartphones you can record and analyse three-dimensional movement. I recommend it to anyone who wants to study movement outside a laboratory, for example in teaching, training or small studies. It does not replace a lab system, but for many questions it is a very practical alternative.

Kinovea is a free video analysis program: you can watch movements in slow motion, measure angles and trace trajectories. I recommend it to coaches, teachers and students who want to do 2D analyses quickly and without prior knowledge. The quality depends heavily on the recording: fixed camera, perpendicular to the movement, sufficient frame rate.

Zotero collects, organises and cites literature, free of charge and directly from your browser. I recommend it to anyone writing a thesis or paper, ideally from the very first search. Starting early saves many hours on the reference list later. It works with common word processors.