Projects

Youth Pitching Mechanics

Several studies conducted over the past few years on youth pitching biomechanics, with the aim of improving evidence-based injury prevention guidelines for youth baseball and softball pitchers.

Motion Analysis and Inverse Dynamics of Knee Joint Biomechanics

Funded research projects to calculate knee joint biomechanics in populations whom are at high risk for knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Reducing Errors Due to Soft Tissue Artifacts (STA)

Ongoing studies that have used nonlinear continuum mechanics to develop algorithms that correct for STA, which is considered a leading source of error in motion analysis studies.

Reducing Errors Due to Crosstalk

Crosstalk arises due to errors in defining the knee flexion-extension axis. Briefly, errors in locating the flexion-extension axis via misaligned markers on the knee may lead to substantial errors in the measurement of knee varus-valgus angles. This results in a strong, anatomically inaccurate correlation between flexion-extension and varus-valgus motions of the knee, which is considered the “hallmark” of crosstalk in motion analysis studies.

A statistical technique employing linear algebra called Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been implemented to reduce crosstalk errors. PCA is implemented as a post-hoc correction technique on knee angles that results in a new set of corrected, uncorrelated knee angles.

Kaila Lawson, Harsh Goel and Jordan Skaro developed custom MATLAB codes and protocols for using PCA to correct for crosstalk errors in gait, cycling, and elliptical training exercises.

Whole Knee Joint Finite Element (FE) Modeling

Mechanical engineering graduate students created several participant-specific whole knee joint FE models to compare tissue stresses caused by different exercises.

Whole Hip Joint Finite Element (FE) Modeling

Experimental Measurement of Evolving Articular Cartilage Properties During In Vitro Growth

Studies aimed to conduct in vitro growth protocols and measure articular cartilage (AC) structure-function relations.

Modeling Articular Cartilage Growth with a Cartilage Growth Finite Element (FE) Model

Development of a cartilage growth finite element model (CGFEM) to solve non-homogeneous and time-dependent growth boundary value problems.