Current Research Projects

Development of tools for real-world gait analysis

The long-term goal of this research is to develop, validate, and disseminate methods that researchers and clinicians can use to measure gait biomechanics in the real world. This work will develop non-black-box methods to obtain meaningful measures of gait from wearable inertial sensors outside of the laboratory setting. Currently, this project is focused on 1) developing methods that allow for accurate calculation of gait outcomes independent of the variations in sensor placement that may occur when individuals place sensors themselves without researcher involvement and 2) developing algorithms to automatically identify gait activities from unobserved data collections.

Collaborators: Stephen Cain, PhD (University of Michigan)

Determining the role of muscle weakness in altered gait

Gait biomechanics change with aging, osteoarthritis, and pathology, often parallel to declines in muscle strength and power. However, the extent to which muscle weakness itself (as opposed to altered motor control, pain, or other factors) drives these changes is unknown. This area of work aims to determine the role of muscle weakness in altered gait by examining changes in gait in response to fatiguing or strengthening lower extremity muscle groups. This work includes both studies to develop methods to transiently increase muscle weakness via fatigue protocols and to better assess the contribution of strength to gait and studies to apply these methods in experimental examinations of how individuals’ gait is affected by muscle function.