Biomechanics in elite weight lifters

Project Description: Through analysis of elite athletes’ performance, get the biomechanics parameter have a high reliability. This study focused the Weightlifting to conduct motion analysis, the primary understanding of coordination of movement. In the past researches, motion video analysis in the competition could know that the trajectory of bar bell, power produce, velocity and acceleration of the lifting [1,2,3]. Some study used electromyography system to know that muscle function in the sagittal plane of lower extremities [4]. This study combined motion video analysis and electromyography system to collected elite men weightlifters’ motion of lifting. The purpose of this study was to found the biomechanics in elite weight lifters.

Desired Student Qualifications: Student who is interested in biomechanics or clinical studies, and/or willing to participate in data analysis and writing. Student with programing skills, or willing to learn how to programming is a requirement.

Project Timeline: No time limit

Duties of Student Researcher: Data analysis and writing

Last Updated on 2016-08-30 20:34:57

Biomechanics of individuals with unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

Project Description: Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) has been reemphasized recently, but survivor rates of UKAs vary and reasons for this phenomenon are not clear. Biomechanically, knee joint kinematics is one of the most direct factors affecting clinical and other physical function performance and long-term survivorship. The goal of the study was to measure the in vivo biomechanics for the lateral and medial condyles on both lateral (LAT) and medial (MED) UKA users during step-up motion and stair ascent.

Desired Student Qualifications: Student who is interested in biomechanics or clinical studies, and/or willing to participate in data collection, analysis, and writing. Student with programing skills, or willing to learn how to programming is a plus.

Project Timeline: From now to Dec 2017

Duties of Student Researcher: Helping data analysis.

Last Updated on 2016-08-30 20:35:20

Change of bat swing kinematics in club baseball players over game season

Project Description: Hitting a softball or baseball requires a great deal of time and mastery to develop the necessary skills for high-level performance. Many biomechanical factors, including material properties of the bat (Koenig, Mitchell, Hannigan, & Clutter, 2004; Southard & Groomer, 2003), trunk, leg and shoulder muscle strengths (Chu, Keenan, Allison, Lephart, & Sell; Lin et al., 2013), joint kinematics (Escamilla et al., 2009; Laughlin, Fleisig, Aune, & Diffendaffer, 2016), and batting posture, (Schulz & Curnow, 1988), are critical to a successful bat, and it takes many years to develop these skills. To hitter, goal of changing those biomechanical factors is to increase bat swing velocity, which has been considered as one of the key factors for a successful batting in baseball and softball (Breen, 1967). An increased bat velocity gives the hitter a longer amount of time to read the ball's trajectory for a more accurate contact, and also results in increased momentum to be transferred from the bat to the ball to make the ball travel farther. Therefore, coaches and players display a constant interest in methods to increase bat velocity for competition. It is obvious that how to maintain the performance throughout the season is critical to baseball players. Biomechanical analysis of the batting is important to help players and coaches to understand and track performance thus may alter adequately to maximize it. Possible biomechanical factors that might influence long term performance include in season training method and intensity, fatigue, and injuries. Interestingly, up to researchers’ knowledge, there is no study tracking players’ long term batting performance throughout the season. Thus, the purposes of the study are to track long term maximum bat swing velocity throughout a season to 1) monitor long term changes, and 2) to determine the factors that have a role in its change.

Desired Student Qualifications: Student who is interested in sports biomechanics and/or willing to participate in data collection, analysis, and writing. Student with programing skills, or willing to learn how to programming is a plus.

Project Timeline: From now to May 2017

Duties of Student Researcher: Helping data collection and analysis.

Last Updated on 2016-08-30 20:57:53

Motion analysis using a novel ultrasound device

Project Description: This study contains validation and application of a novel ultrasound device in measuring human movements.

Desired Student Qualifications: Student who is interested in biomechanics or clinical studies, and/or willing to participate in data collection, analysis, and writing. Student with programing skills, or willing to learn how to programming is a plus.

Project Timeline: From now to Dec 2017

Duties of Student Researcher: Helping data collection and analysis.

Last Updated on 2016-08-30 20:34:42

Spine biomechanics in individuals with different lifestyle

Project Description: Background: Moderate to vigorous physical activity as the optimum movement patterns for health have continued to be the dominant focus of health and fitness research. Yet, emerging evidence of deleterious, adverse health effects of prolonged inactivity, independent of regular physical activity, presents a new element to establishing the ideal model of movement patterns for health. The musculoskeletal trunk of the body becomes unbalanced as a result of prolonged inactivity, and a biomechanical analysis can help to identify high-risk loading behavior associated with these unbalances. Moreover, poor spine biomechanics can indicate a need for adjustment to present recommendations for optimum movement patterns. Some research of spine biomechanics associated with sedentary occupation or lifestyle exists. However, up to the author’s knowledge, no research exists on sedentary lifestyle independent of planned physical fitness in respect to spine biomechanics. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify biomechanical patterns and significant differences in lifting biomechanics among individuals who meet the criteria for a sedentary lifestyle, an active lifestyle, and those who meet both the criteria for a sedentary lifestyle as well as the American Heart Association recommended guidelines for physical activity. Methods: Participants are divided into three groups using the Cambridge EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition)-Norfolk Physical Activity Questionnaire (EPAQ2): inactive, occupational-inactive, and active. A minimum 10 healthy participants for each of the three groups will be recruited for this study. Spine and lower limb kinematics of lifting will be collected through VICON motion capture system. Additionally, ground reaction forces (GRF) and ground reaction moments (GRM) will be collected by forceplate. Kinematic dependent variables will be calculated from joint angle curves of trunk segments, include maximum angular displacement, peak velocity of each direction, times to maximum joint angle, and times to maximum velocity for all tasks. Kinetic dependent variables will be calculated from the GRFs and GRMs data, include maximum anterior excursion, maximum anterior velocity, and sway area of the center of pressure (COP) trajectories. Difference of each dependent variable between groups will be detected by 1-way ANOVA. If difference exist, post-hoc pair-wise comparisons will be conducted and Holm-Bonferroni correction will apply to minimize family-wise errors. The significance level is set at α = 0.05. Hypothesis: Participants who maintain a mostly inactive lifestyle, regardless of meeting the American Heart Association recommendations for physical activity, will exhibit significantly different lifting biomechanics when compared to the lifting biomechanics of an active population performing the same lifting tasks.

Desired Student Qualifications: Student who is interested in biomechanics or clinical studies, and/or willing to participate in data collection, analysis, and writing. Student with programing skills, or willing to learn how to programming is a plus.

Project Timeline: From now to Dec 2017

Duties of Student Researcher: Helping data collection and analysis.

Last Updated on 2016-08-30 20:35:09