Laboratory

One of the main goals of our movement analysis laboratory is to provide additional information to our clinicians, as to improve the treatment and therapy of our patients.

We can measure and visualize aspects of human movements in our laboratory, which cannot be seen by the clinician eye. For example, we can measure the force and pressure under the foot or muscle activity (EMG) during walking.

This type of detailed information helps clinicians to diagnose the exact problem or helps evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment or therapy. A staff of six special trained physiotherapists conducts these clinical (gait) assessments.

In addition to clinical assessments, the lab is also used for research on the human motor control. Equipment like the 6 camera Vicon Motion system, the 3D foot scanner and a large (120*120 cm) force plate, enables us to study motor control scientifically.

Equipment
The laboratory is equiped as follows:

• SYBAR split screen video system for clinical movement analysis
• Vicon system for 3D motion analysis. Watch the demonstration.
• Force plates (Kisler, Bertec) to measure the forces applied to the ground
• RsScan pressure platform to measure plantar pressure
• Glonner telemetric electromyography (EMG) system
• Precision 3D photo scanner to acquire the 3D plantar footshape

Many of these systems can be combined in practice. For example, the Vicon system can be combined with EMG, force plates, accelerometers and goniometers. Gait assessments are performed during over ground locomotion and/or treadmill walking. A large sized treadmill is used for the measurement of O2 uptake capabilities of spinal cord injured persons during wheelchair propulsion.

In addition to the conventional equipment of movement analysis laboratory, RD&E also develops equipment and assessment methods for our PhD projects. The experimental setups for the evaluation of sitting and standing balance performance are successful examples.

Collaboration
Our laboratory works in close collaboration with the laboratory of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen. >> Organisation chart