PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS OF LOCOMOTION

RESEARCH

The field of research of our lab is the physiology and the biomechanics of terrestrial locomotion and the analysis of movements in sports (particularly in gymnastics and in track and field). At €first glance, there are many different modes of terrestrial locomotion: some vertebrates move on Earth on two legs while others use four. ey walk, amble, trot, pace, canter, gallop, hop, etc. Intrinsic factors (morphology, development, pathologies...) or extrinsic factors (slope or softness of the terrain, carrying a load, obstacles, gravity ...) may modify the pattern of locomotion (stride length, step frequency, muscular activity, ...). The aim of our research is to understand how the human system adapts to these particular situations.

The current projects are :

The effect of gravity on the muscular control of landing from a jump,
Biomechanical and physiological aspects of jumping over an obstacle while running in human,
The effect of a perturbation when running ant its motor control,
The double contact phase in walking.

TEAM

Principal investigator

SCHEPENS Bénédicte, PhD (Head of the research group)
BASTIEN Guillaume, PhD
DE JAEGER Dominique, PhD
DEWOLF Arthur, PhD
HEGLUND Norman C., PhD, emeritus
PENTA Massimo, PhD
WILLEMS Patrick, PhD, emeritus

PhD students

BREBELS Romain, PhD Student
DE CLERCK Célia, PhD Student
IVANISKI MELLO André, PhD Student
KABORE Pegdwende, PhD Student
MESQUITA Raphaël, PhD Student
NGUYEN Phan The, PhD Student
NUNEZ-LISBOA Mario, PhD Student
TOUSSAINT Thibaut, PhD Student
VAN Le, PhD Student

Postdoctorate Fellow

CATAVITELLO Giovanna, Postdoctorate Fellow

Technical and administrative staff

BARROSO OLIVEIRA Sara, accountant
CORNET Maxime, technician
DRAPPIER Marjorie, secretary Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
FRIAND Cathy, administrative assistant

Scientific collaborator

DJIVOH Yollande
GAMBELLI Clément
GOSSEYE Thierry

COLLABORATIONS

Pedagogic collaborators

Stéphane BEAUME
Thierry DELEUZE
Jean-Philippe DEMARET
Cécile DETERVILLE
Frédéric LEROY

Scientific National Collaborations

Peter AERTS (Laboratory for Functional Morphology, Department of Biology, Universiteit of Antwerp)
Guillaume BASTIEN (Arsalis - Commission d'encadrement de physiologie et de biomécanique de la locomotion - UCLouvain - FSM)
Stephane BAUDRY (ULB)
Yannick BLEYENHEUFT (UCLouvain)
Dirck DECLERCQ (Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Universiteit of Gent)
Christine DETREMBLEUR (Commission d'encadrement de réadaptation et de médecine physique - READ)
Massimo PENTA, Thierry GOSSEYE (Arsalis)
Ann HALLEMANS (Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Universiteit Antwerpen)

Scientific International Collaborations

(Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia e dei Trapianti, Sezione di Fisiologia Umana, Universita Degli Studi di Milano – Italy)
Pietro DI PRAMPERO (Istituto di Fisiologia Umana, Universita di Udine, Italy)
Trevor DREW (Centre de Recherche en Sciences Neurologiques - Université de Montréal - Canada)
Walter HERZOG (Human Performance Laboratory, University of Calgary, Canada)
E. SEMINATI, G. PAVEI (Dept. of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan - Italy)
Daniel THEISEN, Laboratoire de Recherche en Médecine du Sport, Centre de Recherche Public - Santé, GD de Luxembourg
K. ZELIK, F. LACQUANTI (Scientific Institute Santa Lucia, Dept. of Neuroscience, University of Rome " Tor Vergata " - Italy)
Mark CARPENTER (School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Canada)
Pr. LACQUANITI and Dr. IVANENKO from Santa Lucia Foundation (Roma, Italy)
Pr L. PEYRE-TARTARUGA from Universidate Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, Brazil)
Pr DI PRAMPERO and Dr OSGNACH from Uniud international (Udine, Italy)
Pr ZBINDEN from Universidad Finis Terrae (UFT, Santiago do Chile)
Pr G. PAVEI and A. MINETTI, Universita degli studi di Milano (UNIMI)