University of Texas Permian Basin has installed multimillion-dollar technology in its biomechanics lab at the D. Kirk Edwards Family Human Performance Center.
Opened in 2021, it’s a mostly bare room with camera frame for retroreflective and normal cameras.
When someone walks down a path of force plates, it will show if something is off in the way they walk. The lab can also be used for return to play progressions and muscle fatigue.
The lab is set up for multiple force plates, but six were switched on a recent Thursday.
Pearl markers are used to show a person’s motion on a computer screen, sort of like animation. The computer shows the view from the waist down and full body. Everything shows up in something similar to a stick figure form, but it will point out if you are imbalanced, for example.
They are able to show both waist down and full body models on screen.
“But what these cameras give us are the markers and then from there, I can draw my model and go in and focus on whatever numbers I want to focus on, or whatever it may be,” said Spencer Cain, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Athletic Training. “… This allows us to have them do a bunch of different movements, and then just analyze it from a very objective perspective.”
A lot of times, they will watch people walk, run or do any other type of sport movement.
Although they didn’t have a live model, Alanna Dennison, academic chair, interim program coordinator and assistant professor in the Athletic Training Program, pitched in.
She placed the pearl markers on her feet and ankles so they could be seen by the retroreflective cameras and shown on the computer screen Cain was sitting at.
“As she walks over the plates, you’ll see a big red arrow come up through the plates on the screen. That’s just indicating her center of pressure, so whenever she’s holding her base of support, her center of gravity as she’s walking through. That’s another important factor that we’ll evaluate sometimes. It just, again, depends on what our question is,” Cain said.
The lab also gives athletes a visual representation of what they’re doing, for instance if they’re not landing evenly.
“Usually it’s because they’re not activating a certain muscle, or they’re not moving through a complete range of motion so I can cue them on activate the top of your left leg, or I can give them a specific muscle if they’re familiar with that,” Cain said.
Dennison said it is also a good measure for someone who is returning to play.
“This gives us a really good idea of symmetry that we may not be able to see so we can have a little bit harder data to show us if they’re moving the same on both sides, activating muscles the same on both sides, force is distributed equally. We know that’s a really big re-injury risk (if) they’re not symmetrical, so that helps us to show them what that looks like,” Dennison said.
Cain also uses the lab for her analysis of movement class, which is a class in the Human Performance Department, so she has Human performance athletic training majors in it.
And she’ll be doing research on things such as ankle rehabilitation and maintenance of ankle function for people with chronic ankle instability.
“I’ve done a few studies looking at some maintenance programs, looking at that type of a program and applying it to different groups (such as) the college athlete vs an adolescent vs a 35-year-old that has chronic ankle instability …,” Cain said.
Chronic ankle instability is an issue that can set in after you sprain your ankle. Some people roll their ankle and recover while others have continued difficulties such as a giving way sensation where they’re walking on a level floor and they feel their ankle give, Cain said. Students can use the lab to evaluate movement.
“We’re kind of in a growing year, so trying to figure out how to best use the equipment and resources that we have for both student needs and research. We’re working on adding some programs and some courses that will use this space a lot more effectively and use … our faculty that we have to teach those classes,” Dennison said.
Cain said she got into biomechanics because she loves the human body.
“It’s fascinating and I’m fascinated by how our bodies change after injury. Because sometimes we can get injured and then we never return to that normalized or full function … I want to understand why that happens, so that’s what drew me to it,” Cain said.
She added that the lab is the nicest one she’s been in.
“I’ve been at a couple other ones during my tenure. … They’re not lying when they say it’s state of the art. It is the best Vicon Nexus system you can get right now. People are wanting the best data that we can get from technology and we’re able to do that,” Cain said.
