By Rachel Cooper (’89)

As Acadia’s $860,000 Human Motion Laboratory nears completion, Scott Landry (http://kinesiology.acadiau.ca/scott-landry.html) is looking forward to putting five years of preparation into action.

Landry, an Associate Professor in Kinesiology at Acadia, is the impetus behind the project that will see nearly $700,000 worth of new equipment installed.

“The focus of the lab is to foster a better understanding of the fine details of human movement and how these movements contribute to knee-related sporting injuries,” he says. “The lab will enable us to work closely with clinicians to improve existing injury-prevention programs that have been developed for athletes.”

These programs aim to reduce the risk of knee injuries that often result in the development of knee osteoarthritis. If such disease can be prevented, the burden on healthcare systems can be reduced.

The lab has received strong support from Acadia’s Department of Varsity Athletics (http://sports.acadiau.ca/). “The Director of Athletics, Kevin Dickie, and the varsity coaches have supported the development of the lab and recognize the benefits that it can provide for the entire athletics organization in the future,” Landry says. Coaches will be able to monitor their athletes’ strength and performance by having them tested inside the lab as well as on the field, on the ice, or in the gymnasium.

Funding for the lab has been provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Leadership Opportunity Fund ($322,291), the Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust ($322,291), a private donor ($100,000), and the Acadia Kinesiology Society ($6,000).

Motion-capture system

Renovations to the lab, in the Acadia Athletics Complex, began in early September. “Upon completion of the renovations in January, we will begin the set-up and calibration of our equipment,” Landry says.

Lab equipment includes a motion-capture system that uses reflective markers to track and record the positions of an athlete’s limbs during movement. Force platforms will be embedded in the floor of the lab, and an instrumented force-measuring treadmill will be set up. When combined, the data collected from each piece of equipment can be used to create a detailed analysis of the joint loading and forces that an athlete’s ankle, hip and knee experience.

Under Landry’s supervision, kinesiology and biology students have already started to use the lab’s equipment to collect data using Acadia varsity athletes and local under-12 soccer players.

Landry will continue to participate in multidisciplinary research with other departments at Acadia, including biology, engineering and computer science. He will also collaborate with other universities and research organizations, including further work with the adidas (http://www.adidas.com/) innovation team in Portland, Oregon. “This partnership complements the strong relationship that our Department of Varsity Athletics has with adidas,” Landry says.

“One of the most exciting benefits the lab will offer our students is the opportunity to work together and gain exposure to high-level, hands-on multidisciplinary research,” Landry adds. “Students hoping to pursue further education in physiotherapy, medicine, biomedical engineering, and other health-related graduate studies will benefit significantly from this exposure.”