Anatomy of Movement

As other reviewers have said, this is an excellent introduction to anatomy and kinesiology. The book strikes the perfect balance between clinical detail and practical knowledge for body-workers, athletes and dancers. We have copies of several pages up on the wall at my Pilates studio which get referred to often.All the major skeletal muscle groups of the limbs and torso are covered. It is not a disection manual. It is organized for students of movement. Of particular value is the section on the work of the psoas and the "psoas paradox" that is somewhat controversial. To get more in depth, one text I can recommend for the dancer/Pilates instructor is "Dance Kinesiology" by Sally Sevey Fitt.

This book is everything I wanted. I faced facts a long time ago that when it comes to subjects like science and anatomy, I'm not incredibly gifted. But I understood everything in this book during the first read. It is all laid out so matter-of-factly, that it is easy to digest.As a yoga instructor, I have been looking for a book that covers how the human body moves in a way that I could apply towards my knowledge of postures. This book succeeded admirably.

As a student of yoga and dance, I've been looking for an anatomy book to help me understand what's involved in movement. Unfortunately, most of the books I found were encyclopedic reference tomes that overwhelmed me with information. So I was delighted to run across this one: because its specific focus is movement, the drawings and descriptions cover only the relevant anatomical details. It's easy to understand and clear without being simplistic. The organization of the book makes it easy to find the information you want. And it doesn't just show joints and muscles; other relevant body parts are illustrated so the reader comprehends how everything works together (I never understood what the diaphragm really looks like until I saw this book!). This is a book that belongs in everyone's library -- it's not just for dancers or bodyworkers.

This excellent book focuses on the practical explanation of joint construction and function. Describes in easy-to-understand terms how muscles act upon joints. Uncanny in its ability to simplify a complex subject, if studied carefully it will give there reader an understanding of applied anatomy and kinesiology to almost second year university level. Excellent-yet-simple illustrations can be related to Dance, Gymnastics, Yoga and Martial Arts. I have used it extensively throughout my degree and in my opinion it should be a standard text in all human movement and physiotherapy courses.

The book contains hundreds of drawings showing the attachments and actions of the skeletal muscles. Muscle actions are related to movements of stretching, walking, standing, dance, sport, etc. Diagrams show the range of movement, how muscle action varies with posture and position, directions in which force is exerted, how the action of one muscle affects another.