Developments in Biomechanics – serie

By definition Biomechanics is the application of engineering methods to study the mechanical aspects of living beings. Mostly the life scientists have the questions but lack of the specialized methods. The engineers on the other hand can handle very specialized equipment and methods, but lack in the biological thinking. If both sides are able to adapt to each other, Biomechanics is a classical field of interdis­ ciplinary cooperation. In the beginning, most biomechanical research was done in the field of orthopaedics. But other areas like cardiovascular research, dentistry, sports and many others gain increasing importance. This situation is clearly reflected in this book, which contains a selected number of papers which were presented at the Fifth Meeting of the European Society of Biomechanics, held in September 1986 in Berlin. Meanwhile these meetings have become a well accepted forum and a place of interdis­ ciplinary discussion for scientists in Biomechanics on the one side and surgeons and other peoples interested in biome­ chanical solutions on the other. It is the third time that the proceedings are published as a book and the editors are sure that this volume will help to establish this series "Developement in Biomechanics" as a valuable tool for all people involved in Biomechanics. The Fifth Meeting of the ESB also marks the tenth anniversary in the short history of the European Society of Biomechanics.

Biomechanics as a scientific activity is not new. Already involved (or so it is said) in its practice were Aristotle (384-327 BC) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Recently, however, it has become fashionable as a separate field, as witnessed by the existence of a Journal of Biomechanics (1968), an Interna­ tional (1973), a European (1976) and an American (1977) Society of Biomechanics, and an amount of (usually recently erected) Biomechanics Laboratories at Uni­ versities or other institutions throughout the world. If one or~anises a Con­ ference on Biomechanics, a relatively large number of scientists leave their cubicles or workshops to visit the place of worship. It becomes quickly evident, however, that such a forum for scientific communication is far from being homo­ geneous. All are not of the same believe, and the variety in professional inte­ rests almost parallels the number of attendants. "Biomechanics, the science of applying methods and principles of Mechanics to biological tissues and medical problems" is a definition which, in one form or another, has found wide acceptance among biomecanicians. Nevertheless, Bio­ mechanics is interwoven and thus often confused with other scientific endeavors. It is colored differently by its many fields of application (e. g. Orthopaedic and Cardio-Vascular Surgery, Dentistry, Rehabilitation, Physical Medicine, Injury Prevention, Sports and others), and the backgrounds of its disciplina­ ries. It partly overlaps sciences as Biomaterials, Medical Physics and Biophy­ sics, Physiology, and Functional Anatomy.

By definition Biomechanics is the application of engineering methods to study the mechanical aspects of living beings. Mostly the life scientists have the questions but lack of the specialized methods. The engineers on the other hand can handle very specialized equipment and methods, but lack in the biological thinking. If both sides are able to adapt to each other, Biomechanics is a classical field of interdis­ ciplinary cooperation. In the beginning, most biomechanical research was done in the field of orthopaedics. But other areas like cardiovascular research, dentistry, sports and many others gain increasing importance. This situation is clearly reflected in this book, which contains a selected number of papers which were presented at the Fifth Meeting of the European Society of Biomechanics, held in September 1986 in Berlin. Meanwhile these meetings have become a well accepted forum and a place of interdis­ ciplinary discussion for scientists in Biomechanics on the one side and surgeons and other peoples interested in biome­ chanical solutions on the other. It is the third time that the proceedings are published as a book and the editors are sure that this volume will help to establish this series "Developement in Biomechanics" as a valuable tool for all people involved in Biomechanics. The Fifth Meeting of the ESB also marks the tenth anniversary in the short history of the European Society of Biomechanics.