What are the 6 Degrees of Freedom

We all have been taught in fitness school that the body moves in three planes of motion: sagittal, frontal and transverse.

Now, there is nothing wrong with this model, but limited. Because:
1) It does not describe the type of movement along these planes.
2) It can become very difficult to define these planes in positions other than the anatomical position.

In CST, and in aeronautics, we use the 6 Degrees of Freedom model to describe human movement.

This is a more complete model as:
1) It describes not only the planes of movements, but also the type of movement - translational or rotational.
2) You do not need to define the planes of motion, just the movement. Therefore it can be very easy to define a movement in other than anatomical position, eg from a very twisted pose in yoga.

Some examples of movements in each degree of freedom include:

Translational
Surge: walking forward/backward
Sway: sidestepping
Heave: jumping up and down

Rotational
Pitch: forward/backward somersault
Roll: cartwheel
Yaw: turning left/right



Try defining the above exercise in the 3 planes of motion. I can't. Maybe i am just stupid or inexperienced. But i can easily define it in 6 Degrees of Freedom: pitch, yaw and sway.

For more info, check out these articles in Wikipedia:
Six Degrees of Freedom
Degrees of Freedom (mechanics)

To start training in 6 degrees of freedom, check out Flowfit: