What Is Kinesiology? Definition, Branches, and Careers
Quick answer: Kinesiology is the scientific study of human movement — how muscles, bones, joints and the nervous system work together to produce it. It is an academic discipline, taught as a university degree, and it spans several branches: biomechanics, exercise physiology, motor control and the psychology of physical activity. Anyone assessing how a person moves and designing a way to change it is applying kinesiology, whether they work in rehabilitation, sport, ergonomics or research.
What Kinesiology Covers
People often expect kinesiology to be one narrow thing. It is closer to a department than a subject — a cluster of sciences pointed at the same question. The American Kinesiology Association sets out five scientific areas that an undergraduate degree is expected to cover:
- Anatomical and biomechanical principles — the structure of the body and the physical forces acting on it
- Physiological response — how the body responds and adapts to exertion
- Motor behavior — how movement is learned, controlled and developed across a lifetime
- Behavior change — the psychology of why people start moving, and why they stop
- Scientific process — research methods, measurement and evidence-based practice
Alongside those sit the cultural and historical dimensions of physical activity and its role in health across different populations. The AKA describes the field as reaching beyond physical activity to include planned and intentional exercise, sport performance and skill development, and sedentary behavior — the absence of movement — as well as movement itself.
The through-line is that movement is treated as something you can measure, explain and change, rather than something you either have or you do not.
Kinesiology and biomechanics — what is the difference?
This is the most common point of confusion, and the answer is simple: biomechanics is one branch of kinesiology, not a rival to it.
Biomechanics is the mechanics specifically — forces, levers, loads, angles, the physics of a body in motion. It will tell you how much load a joint carries in a given position and what happens to that load when the position changes.
Kinesiology is the wider field that biomechanics sits inside. It also takes in the physiology that fuels movement, the nervous system that coordinates it, and the behavioral side that determines whether someone sustains a change. A biomechanical answer tells you what the forces are doing; the rest of kinesiology tells you why the body is organized that way and what it would take to alter it.
In practice the branches are hard to separate. Working out why one hip sits higher than the other is a biomechanics question, but the reason it stays that way is usually motor control, and whether it changes comes down to behavior.
Kinesiology and Applied Kinesiology Are Different Things
Worth clearing up, because the names are nearly identical and the practices are not related.
| What it is | Where it comes from | |
|---|---|---|
| Kinesiology | The academic study of human movement, taught as a university degree across the branches above | Established as a university discipline, with departments in most large institutions |
| Applied kinesiology | A muscle-testing method, in which pressure is applied to a limb and the muscle’s response is interpreted as information about something elsewhere in the body | Developed in the 1960s by chiropractor George Goodheart, and practiced mainly within chiropractic and some complementary medicine settings |
The two are often assumed to be the same because of the shared word. They have separate histories and separate methods. On the evidence, a review of the published literature on applied kinesiology reported insufficient evidence to establish diagnostic accuracy, a specific therapeutic benefit for any condition, or the validity of muscle testing as a diagnostic tool.
Manual muscle testing in the ordinary clinical sense — a physician or physical therapist checking whether a particular muscle can produce force, usually to assess a nerve — is a different procedure again, and a routine one.
Activ8 Posture works from the academic side of the field. We do not practice applied kinesiology and we do not use muscle testing to diagnose. If a practitioner offers you “kinesiology,” it is reasonable to ask which of the two they mean.
What a Kinesiologist Does
Graduates work in rehabilitation clinics, with sports teams, in hospitals, in ergonomics and workplace-safety roles, in research labs, and in strength and conditioning. The common thread is assessing how someone moves and designing a way to change it.
One thing worth knowing: in most of the United States, “kinesiologist” is not a protected title. Anyone can use it, and the training behind it varies enormously. In Ontario, Canada, it is regulated — only people registered with the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario may call themselves a kinesiologist or use R.Kin. If credentials matter to you, ask what degree and what certification sit behind the word.
For the closest regulated equivalent in the US, exercise physiologists typically hold a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology, exercise science or kinesiology. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts their median pay at $59,460 (May 2025), with employment projected to grow 13% through 2035.
Kinesiology Applied to Posture and Pain
This is the part of the field we work in, so it is the part we know best.
The biomechanics and motor-control branches carry one consequence worth sitting with: where you feel a symptom is often not where it is produced. The body is a linked chain. If the pelvis sits rotated or tipped, the ribcage adjusts, the shoulders adjust, and the head shifts to keep your eyes level. By the time something aches, you may be feeling the last link rather than the first.
That is why a knee that hurts gets assessed alongside the foot, hip and pelvis, and why treating only the painful spot often gives relief that does not hold.
Posture alignment therapy applies that reasoning directly. We look at how you are organized standing still and how you move, identify which muscle imbalances the rest of the body is compensating around, and give you a sequence of exercises aimed at changing the position rather than stretching whatever feels tight. The Activ8 Posture Method page walks through how the assessment works.
The grounding is not incidental. Across the team sits a Master’s in Kinesiology — held by Kimberly Pasamonte, who also carries NSCA-CSCS and TBMM-CES certifications — alongside a degree in Athletic Training and Sports Medicine, NASM corrective exercise certification, and Egoscue® certification. The assessment you would get is built on the same biomechanics and motor-control material a kinesiology department teaches.
Seeing It in Your Own Body
You do not need equipment for a first look. Stand the way you normally stand — do not correct anything — and have someone photograph you from the front and from the side, arms relaxed.
- From the side, where does the ear sit relative to the middle of the shoulder? Forward is common.
- From the front, are the shoulders level? Are the hips?
- Do both feet point the same direction, or does one turn out more than the other?
None of this is a diagnosis. It is a baseline. The value is that in six months you can take the same two photographs and see whether anything moved.
If you want something more structured, the 10-second balance test is a quick self-check that tends to surface asymmetries people had not noticed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is kinesiology in simple terms?
The science of how the human body moves — which muscles and joints produce a movement, what forces act on them, and how the nervous system coordinates it. It is studied as a university degree and applied in rehabilitation, sport, ergonomics and research.
What is the difference between kinesiology and biomechanics?
Biomechanics is one branch of kinesiology, not a separate field. It covers the mechanics specifically — forces, levers and loads. Kinesiology is the wider discipline, which also takes in exercise physiology, motor control and the psychology of physical activity.
What does a kinesiologist do?
Assesses how a person moves and designs a way to change it: rehabilitation programs, conditioning, ergonomic redesign, return-to-work planning. In most US states the title is not regulated, so the training behind it varies. In Ontario it is a regulated health profession.
Is kinesiology a science?
Yes. It is an academic discipline with university departments, peer-reviewed journals and degree programs, drawing on anatomy, physiology, physics and neuroscience. Its subject is human movement rather than a single organ system.
Is applied kinesiology the same as kinesiology?
No. Applied kinesiology is a muscle-testing method developed in 1960s chiropractic, in which a muscle’s response to pressure is interpreted as information about something elsewhere in the body. A review of the published literature found insufficient evidence to establish diagnostic accuracy or the validity of muscle testing. The academic field of kinesiology is separate, with a different history and different methods.
Can kinesiology help with back or neck pain?
The biomechanical side of it can help with the postural subset — discomfort that builds gradually, relates to position, and eases with rest. It is not treatment for infection, fracture, inflammatory disease or nerve compression, and a good assessment should tell you if that is what your history suggests.
Where can I find a kinesiologist near me?
Look at the degree and the certification rather than the word itself. If what you are after is whole-body postural work, Activ8 Posture has clinics in Boston (Newton and Gloucester), Los Angeles (Santa Monica and Beverly Grove) and Newport, Rhode Island, plus virtual sessions.
This article is for general education and is not medical advice. If you have symptoms that concern you, talk with your physician.
Where to Start
- Curious about the field itself? The American Kinesiology Association description linked above is the clearest short account of what a degree covers.
- Dealing with a recurring ache that moves around, or keeps coming back after it settles? A free 30-minute consultation includes a conversation and a whole-body postural assessment, in Boston, Newport or Los Angeles.
- Not near a clinic? Virtual posture therapy works the same way, by video.
No pressure either way. Plenty of people read a page like this, take the two photographs, and that is enough for now.
Sources
- American Kinesiology Association — Undergraduate Core Elements
- Hall S, Lewith G, Brien S, Little P. A review of the literature in applied and specialised kinesiology. Forschende Komplementärmedizin. 2008;15(1):40–46. Summary via NCBI
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Exercise Physiologists
- College of Kinesiologists of Ontario — use of the protected title
