Functional Biomechanical & Resiliency Lab
What is resiliency?
Before we answer that, what is functional biomechanics?
Biomechanics is the study of how forces affect how we move.
For example, when you stub your toe, there is a force from the impact of your toe on the table, and I am sure you know how that affects your movements. Biomechanics is a wide field that can examine forces on your teeth when you chew (dental biomechanics) or forces that cause injuries, like an ACL tear. Our lab focuses on functional biomechanics. In particular, our lab’s work is focused on walking and standing.
When we move, we don’t move like robots.
Each movement is not exactly like the last one. We have variability in how we move. So much so that we are able to complete the same task using different muscles or even limbs. Think about writing your name with your non-dominant hand. You can still complete the task, but it isn’t the same as doing it with your dominant hand. Variability in movement is needed. It makes a person adaptable and flexible to disruptions in their movements (like tripping on a crack in the sidewalk).
How our research makes a difference
Resiliency can mean different things to different people. In our laboratory, we want to understand what makes some individuals more resilient to a disruption to their movements (like tripping on a crack in the sidewalk or PPE that does not fit) than other individuals. Our goal is to understand the nature of this resiliency, and if it has been lost due to disease or injury, to introduce techniques to restore flexibility and adaptability back into their movement patterns.
Research
There are many definitions of resiliency. We use the definition from the National Institutes of Health, “resilience encompasses the capacity to resist, adapt to, recover, or grow from a challenge.” In our lab, we study disruptions to movement as the challenge.
The Functional Biomechanics and Resiliency Laboratory has studies in three major areas:
Aging and Resilience
We have always had an interest in functional outcomes as a person ages, especially with performing more than one task at a time. Or how disruptions to one’s walking or balance can alter their behavior. Our current work is focused on determining objective measures of resiliency, especially when confronted with a challenge to their movement.
Firefighting and Resilience
Most people do not think about how a firefighter’s jacket and pants fit. For many firefighters, their protective gear does not fit correctly, and this is even more so a problem for female firefighters. When gear does not fit properly, this changes their range of motion, limiting how much they can move. Our current work is focused on determining if limited range of motion due to ill-fitting gear contributes to a higher risk of musculoskeletal injuries. In addition, we want to understand what makes some firefighters more resilient to injury than others.
Quantifying Movement Variability
In our lab, we believe that movement variability and resiliency are linked. If you lose adaptability in your movements, are you then able to recover from a challenge? There are many tools that scientists use to quantify patterns and fluctuations in movement. Our work is focused on ensuring that these tools are valid and reliable. We have focused much of our work on the use of entropy. A recent review provides guidelines for consideration.
Join us
UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS
We are always looking for students to work with us in the lab. Interested students are encouraged to reach out to Dr. Yentes by sending her your resume/CV and a quick reason as to why you are interested in working in the lab. If you don’t have a resume, that is okay! Go ahead and send an email. Also, talk to the current students or former students to learn more about what it is like to work in the lab day-to-day and working with Dr. Yentes.