Motion Biomechanics

Animal Models of Human Disease

Large animals such as horses, dogs, pigs, and sheep are often used to study musculoskeletal diseases, orthopedic procedures, and the biomechanical impacts of these conditions on gait and other biomechanical parameters. These studies are often intended to be translational in the sense that they are expected to provide insight into related conditions in humans, or predict performance of devices or therapies when translated to humans. However, there is a large capability gap in biomechanics between large animal studies and human studies; decades of development has resulted in sophisticated inverse dynamic models and related tools for human biomechanics that are not available for large animals. This relegates biomechanical endpoints in large animal studies to external measurements (such as ground reaction force), or simple and less than accurate kinematic measures (like joint angles) estimated from 2D video, or from 3D surface markers. In current practice, internal biomechanical parameters are not easily determinable (e.g. joint reaction forces and torques, muscle activation). The goal of this work is to develop and validate an inverse dynamic model for sheep that can then be employed to study biomechanical outcomes in animal models of human disease. We believe this will provide a useful tool in the study of musculoskeletal diseases and conditions, and their treatments.

Livestock Biomechanics

Biomechanical analyses such as gait analysis have found research and commercial utility in a variety of contexts in livestock. A particularly salient example is the assessment of lameness in cows/steers; each lame cow can cost a producer several hundred dollars of lost milk production, reduced fertility, increased risk of culling, etc. Lameness prevalence in commercial herds remains high, at over 20%.  Similarly, lameness in sheep results in reduced fertility and lower growth, and is largely caused by infectious disease, and lameness in pigs may have a prevalence from 5-20% and cost tens or hundreds of dollars per animal.  Beyond lameness, biomechanical measurements may also be sensitive to neurological diseases that can cause gait and other motion abnormalities, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, and encephalitis, and other disease states that can affect motion such as ketosis and hypocalcemia. Ultimately, biomechanical analysis has the potential to identify lameness and other conditions quickly and reliably, reducing the costs of lost productivity and the spread of communicable diseases.

Our research delves into the intricacies of human motion, leveraging cutting-edge technology to understand how our bodies move and perform. In collaboration with the Biomechanical Environments Laboratories at Texas A&M we utilize motion capture systems, which employ specialized cameras and markers to precisely track and analyze movement in three dimensions. This allows us to study everything from the subtle nuances of an athlete’s gait to the complex coordination involved in everyday tasks. In addition to motion capture, we employ other advanced techniques such as electromyography (EMG) to measure muscle activity, and force plates to quantify ground reaction forces. By combining these methods, we gain a comprehensive understanding of the biomechanical factors that influence human movement, enabling us to develop innovative solutions for improving performance, preventing injury, and enhancing rehabilitation.