Some science courses have strange names that you may have never heard before. Take “kinesiology” for example. What is it? Kinesiology is the physics of the human body, or how the body functions when it’s in motion.

Terry Elder, DC, of National University, teaches kinesiology in the bachelor of biomedical science program. He says, “Kinesiology is the function of joints and muscles — how the body works. It can prepare you very well for graduate health programs in virtually any field, whether you’ll be studying medicine, dentistry, chiropractic, or any other health career degree.”

For example, in Dr. Elder’s class, you’ll not only learn the names and locations of muscles, but also:

• which muscles are active in what types of movements,
• how they coordinate together,
• which muscles contract and which muscles lengthen when you step forward,
• how these different actions stabilize each other.

Kinesiology is crucial for those who are planning a career in sports medicine, orthopedics or chiropractic medicine. These are fields where professionals must keenly understand the cause and prevention of injury. For that reason, understanding anatomy is not enough. They have to know how different types of motion put stress on joints and muscles. You might say that kinesiology puts anatomy in motion so that we can gain a better understanding of how the human body is engineered.

At National University’s bachelor of biomedical science program, you can study kinesiology as well as your choice of over over 40 courses in science, math, computer and communication subjectsspecifically designed to prepare you for a career in health care.