Agreed on both points, but beyond that definition, personally 🤷🏻‍♂️. Also, intention is represented in the *desired* state term mentioned above. I mentioned it explicitly because it’s what differentiates, for example, a sprinter getting into starting position (hands on ground), as not a fall.

I think that - using the framework that @birdbiomech.bsky.social outlined - a fall has occurred when a body part makes contact with a support surface due to misalignment between the *actual* and *desired* body state (other than the feet, which would be a trip). This definition captures intention!

- is angular momentum about COM (vs. COP or other point) a useful metric?

Thanks for the links! I was unaware of this broader convo outside my field.

Also to answer the question of how we should better educate students: I think that looking at a topic only once from one point of view is a disservice. In research, we examine the same topic repeatedly from many points of view, and that should appear in school curricula as well in my opinion.

In my field of motor control, "physics of living systems" has long been a goal. Mark Latash and others have been standard bearers, see for example: d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/45409261/Acq...

This is a command line tool. You can try it out on your own Zotero library (locally on your computer) by running `pip install zotero-utils`. My favorite command is the timeline `zotero-utils show-timeline-date-published`

I liken this idea to the sensation of preparing for a strenuous movement like a pull up. You can often tell before you even begin the movement whether it will be successful or not - are the muscles strong enough (affordances), are you in a sufficiently mechanically advantageous position, etc.

I think from a mechanics-based perspective that sensation of balance involves sensation/perception of three separate components: the gravity vector, affordances (all possible movements given physiological & environmental constraints), and the current mechanical context (base of support & momentum).

I’d like to be added too please!