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Pagebiology can no more be understood without biomechanics than an airplane without aerodynamics, Y.C. Fung
What is biomechanics? The best answer to this question has
been giving by Y.C. Fung in his textbook "Biomechanics:
Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues" which is
internationally accepted as the definitive treatment of the
subject.
"Biomechanics is mechanics applied to biology. The word 'mechanics' was used by Galileo as a subtitle to his book Two New Sciences (1638) to describe force, motion, and strenght of materials. Through the years its meaning has been extended to cover the study of the motions of all kinds of particles and continua, including quanta, atoms, molecules, gases, liquids, solids, structures, stars and galaxies. The biological worlds is a part of the physical world around us and naturally is an object of enquiry in mechanics... Biomechanics seeks to understand the mechanics of living systems.The motivation for research in this area comes from the realization that biology can no more be understood without biomechnics than an airplane can without aerodynamics. For an airplane, mechanics enables us to desing its structure and predict its performance. For an organism, biomechanics helps us to understand its normal function, predict changes due to alterations, and propose methods of artificial intervention. Thus diagnosis, surgery, and prosthesis are closely associated with biomechanics." (Fung, 1993:1).
The examples discussed in the book include: the effects of stress
on the re-modelling of bone and cartilage, the deformation
mechanics of erythrocytes (red blood cells), the fluid dynamics
of blood circulation, the strain in arteries and veins, the
constituive equations for muscle, and many others.
Further Reading: Fung YC, Biomechanics: Mechanical
Properties of Living Tissues, Springer-Verlag, 1993.
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