Fundamentals of Biomechanics introduces the exciting world of how human movement is created and how it can be improved. Teachers, coaches and physical therapists all use biomechanics to help people improve movement and decrease the risk of injury. The book presents a comprehensive review of the major concepts of biomechanics and summarizes them in nine principles of biomechanics. Fundamentals of Biomechanics concludes by showing how these principles can be used by movement professionals to improve human movement. Specific case studies are presented in physical education, coaching, strength and conditioning, and sports medicine.

This book shows how vitamin A deficiency – before the vitamin was known to scientists – affected millions of people throughout history. It is a story of sailors and soldiers, penniless mothers, orphaned infants, and young children left susceptible to blindness and fatal infections. We also glimpse the fortunate ones who, with ample vitamin A-rich food, escaped this elusive stalker. Why were people going blind and dying? To unravel this puzzle, scientists around the world competed over the course of a century. Their persistent efforts led to the identification of vitamin A and its essential role in health. As a primary focus of today’s international public health efforts, vitamin A has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. But, we discover, they could save many more were it not for obstacles erected by political and ideological zealots who lack a historical perspective of the problem. Although exhaustively researched and documented, this book is written for intellectually curious lay readers as well as for specialists. Public health professionals, nutritionists, and historians of science and medicine have much to learn from this book about the cultural and scientific origins of their disciplines. Likewise, readers interested in military and cultural history will learn about the interaction of health, society, science, and politics. The author’s presentation of vitamin A deficiency is likely to become a classic case study of health disparities in the past as well as the present.

Many of the vocabulary items that foreign language learners encounter involve figurative extensions of meaning. For example, bottleneck, hard-headed and getting a foot in the door all involve figurative extensions of parts of the body. To understand words and expressions such as these, language learners often need to employ figurative thinking. This book examines the nature of figurative thinking, considers its contribution to communicative language ability, and explores the implications for language teaching and learning.