Title: Decoding, predicting and enhancing human movement, Prof. Lanie Gutierrez-Farewk

Abstract

People with physical disabilities are the largest minority in the world.  Despite this, we as a society have relatively little ability to predict the long-term spiraling effects of their primary disability, and treatment is thus often short-sighted in nature. The strategies one employs in movement patterns are often very complex; while some well-understood relationships can explain movement pattern to a certain extent, there are still many other influencing factors. These are difficult to measure and to treat, and treatment strategies develop slowly as a result.

However, technology has developed at an extraordinary pace over the past decades; this opens up for entirely new opportunities in predictive experiments and tools, and even more so in “smart” devices that interact with the user’s biosignals, such as robotic exoskeletons. 

In this lecture, I will discuss the challenges we tackle in our research group in decoding what affects movement strategies in the long and short term, and how we can use technology to assist patients in their intended motion.

 We gratefully acknowledge the generous support from

• Stiftelsen Promobilia (ref 20300)
• Vetenskapsrådet (Consolidating Grant 2018-00750 “BADASS: BiomechAnics in movement Disorders and ASSistance”)