U.S.-Italy Cooperative Research: Dynamics of Human Locomotion and Motor Control

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This award will support Prof. Richard Shiavi of Vanderbilt University in a research collaboration with Prof. Antonio Pedotti of the Centro di Bioingegneria in Milan, Italy. The purpose of the research is to combine the expertise at both centers in order to investigate and analyze human locomotion. The researchers plan to develop several gait analysis procedures for a single laboratory environment that would utilize current measurement techniques, analytic procedures, and interactive graphical interfaces. The extensive adaptability of motor control of locomotion makes bipedal locomotion extremely versatile, but consequently, makes its investigation extremely difficult. Depending upon the aspect of gait being investigated, some combination of electromyographic, kinematic, and dynamic measurements are required. Prof. Shiavi has developed several techniques for analyzing muscle activity while researchers in Milan have developed procedures to analyze the dynamics of locomotion and study motor control. By combining these techniques and procedures, the researchers intend to develop and make available to researchers and clinicians quantitative analytic tools useful in gait evaluation.