A Review of Karate from a Biomechanical Perspective and Its Potential as a Medium for Physics Instruction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33394/j-ps.v14i4.22514Keywords:
Bibliometric analysis, Karate biomechanics, Physics education, Instructional mediaAbstract
Karate biomechanics, as a field, examines human body movement through a scientific lens and is inherently tied to various physics concepts, particularly those in mechanics. Yet the potential of Karate biomechanics research as a medium for physics instruction remains largely underexplored. This study sets out to trace the development of both Karate biomechanics research and physics education research, while also evaluating the prospective use of the former as a teaching tool in physics. We employed a bibliometric analysis combined with a literature review. Publication data were drawn from the Scopus database and processed with VOSviewer software to map keyword networks, research trends, and cross-topic relationships. The findings indicate that publications in both Karate biomechanics and physics education have grown at a considerable pace (n = 643). The keyword network visualization reveals points of convergence between the two fields through themes like motion, kinematics, movement analysis, and phenomenon-based learning. Our literature review suggests that Karate biomechanics can serve as a viable instructional medium, precisely because it presents real, measurable, and easily observable motion phenomena suitable for explaining a range of mechanics concepts. The study yields three main findings: (a) research in Karate biomechanics has grown substantially, with core interests centered on bodily motion analysis, kinematics, physical performance, and the use of motion-capture technologies; (b) physics education research that integrates sports and martial arts has shown rapid productivity gains, emphasizing conceptual understanding, student engagement, inquiry- and project-based approaches, along with STEM and educational technology integration; (c) Karate biomechanics clearly has potential as a physics learning medium. The very fact that it offers tangible, quantifiable, and readily observable motion phenomena suggests that integrating Karate biomechanics into physics instruction could foster more meaningful and context-rich learning experiences for students.
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