Kinesiology and Flexibility Assessment Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards defining core terms in posture, proprioception, muscle mechanics, and stretching techniques from Chapters 5 and 6.

Proprioception

The sense of knowing where one's body is in space, which serves as a key mediator of movement and postural control.

Neutral Position

The posture of the spine in which overall internal stresses in the spinal column and muscular effort to hold the posture are minimal.

Stability

The state of a joint remaining or promptly returning to proper alignment through the equalization of forces.

Mechanoreceptors

Specialized receptors located in the skin, muscles, fascia, and joints that contribute to proprioceptive acuity.

Diaphragm Muscles

Muscles tasked with the dual roles of postural stabilization as well as respiration.

Hi-Lo Assessment

An assessment tool used to evaluate proper diaphragmatic control during breathing.

Self-Myofascial Release

A soft tissue strategy performed by an individual using various tools to compress muscle and fascial structures.

Stabilizer Muscles

Slow-twitch, deep muscles that are resistant to fatigue, produce lower force, and act as major contributors to proprioception.

Mobilizer Muscles

Superficial, fast-twitch muscles that fatigue easily and produce high force for gross movement.

Rotator Cuff Muscles

A muscle group consisting of the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor whose primary role is to stabilize the humerus during motion.

Hypertonicity

The tendency of a muscle to tighten or have a lower activation threshold.

Reciprocal Inhibition

A neuromuscular process where hypertonicity in a muscle group (such as hip flexors) contributes to progressive weakness in its antagonist muscle group (such as gluteus maximus).

Goniometer

An instrument similar to a protractor used to measure a joint's range of motion in degrees by aligning its fulcrum to the joint axis of rotation.

Static Stretching

A flexibility technique involving a slow and constant motion held in the final position at peak tension for 15 to 30 seconds.

Dynamic Stretching

A warm-up method using slow and controlled, sport-specific movements designed to increase core temperature and enhance activity-related flexibility and balance.

Ballistic Stretching

A stretching style using the momentum of a moving body segment to produce peak muscle tension, which may trigger the myotatic reflex and increase injury risk.

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation

A stretching technique combining passive stretching with isometric and concentric muscle actions using autogenic and reciprocal inhibition responses of Golgi tendon organs.

Hold-Relax Technique

A PNF procedure that begins with passive movement to a point of resistance followed by a submaximal isometric contraction of the target muscle.

Agonist Contraction

A PNF technique in which the muscle opposite the target muscle is concentrically contracted and held at the end range for several seconds.

Muscle Spindles

Sensory units within a muscle that provide information about the rate of change in muscle length.

Intrafusal Muscle Fibers

The three to 10 specialized muscle fibers that comprise a muscle spindle.

Golgi Tendon Organs

Sensory receptors located within a muscle that provide information about muscle tension.

Frontal Plane Movements

Body movements occurring side-to-side, such as hip joint abduction.

Transverse Plane Movements

Rotational body movements, such as glenohumeral rotation.

Sagittal Plane Movements

Forward and backward body movements, such as glenohumeral flexion or lumbar flexion/extension.

Viscoelastic Properties

Properties of skeletal muscle allowing lengthening under applied long constant tension (creep) and stress relaxation.

Joint Capsule

The soft tissue component that contributes the most relative stiffness to a given joint.

Sit-and-Reach Test

A traditional flexibility assessment method that is no longer recommended.