Projects

Patients with knee osteoarthritis are often limited in their  physical activity and experience a reduction in their quality of life. An adequate amount of physical activity, and the resulting joint loading is of  great importance in slowing down the progression of the disease. However, it is very difficult for patients to determine an acceptable duration and intensity of activity to consequently avoid overloading, pain and loss of function. Mobile healthcare technologies can provide support in finding an adequate loading level and can expand existing preventive interventions. Objective feedback on the state of movement and load of the affected knee joint can provide specific adjustment of movement behavior. The aims of this research project are to test whether an intelligent knee brace is able to estimate the load condition in the knee joint with sufficient accuracy and the evaluation of a four-week use of the intelligent knee brace on the physical activity behavior and the pain level of patients with gonarthrosis.

Duration

• 2022 - 2026

Partners

• Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA

Hip osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease with a high prevalence and large impact on patients' quality of life. Hence, the development of effective conservative treatment strategies is of great importance to delay the onset and progression of osteoarthritis. Patients with hip osteoarthritis show limited mobility in the hip joint causing diverse modifications in their gait patterns which might negatively influence the loading of the hip joint. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to analyze hip functionality and gait patterns of patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis and evaluate the effectiveness of a new hip brace to modify hip function and pathological gait biomechanics.

Duration

• 2019 - 2022

Funding

• Bauerfeind AG

The loss of cartilage volume in the inside part of the knee joint is a major cause of disability. Beside other non-pharmacological conservative treatments, knee braces can provide an effective disease-enhancing intervention for improving knee joint function and for reducing pain. Patients with medio-tibiofemoral knee osteoarthritis commonly show a varus knee malalignment, which can lead to changes in the internal loadings on the knee joint structures as well as modifications in the gait patterns. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to analyze the effectiveness of an innovative knee brace to reduce the loading of the medial knee compartment as well as to improve pathological gait biomechanics. Furthermore, effects of the knee brace on symptoms such as knee pain and functional impairments will be investigated.

Duration

• 2021 - 2023

Funding

• Bauerfeind AG

Building on the research project "Performance diagnostics in recurve archery: development and evaluation of a system for analyzing the dynamics of the archer-archer interaction" conducted at the BioMotion Center and funded by the Federal Institute of Sport Science, this research project aims to further develop the measurement system for recording the pressure distribution between the athlete's hand and the recurve bow on the basis of feedback from sports practice. This project is carried out in close cooperation with the archery department of the DSB.

Duration

• 2021 - 2022

Partners

• Stefan Müller (Deutscher Schützenbund e.V., DSB)
• Oliver Haidn (Deutscher Schützenbund e.V., DSB)

Funding

• Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft (BISp)

The research project "Modelling the performance structure in the Olympic rifle disciplines, air-rifle and small-bore rifle" is funded by the Federal Institute of Sports Science. The aim of the project is to develop performance structure models for air-rifle and small-bore shooting. With these models, a theoretical foundation and optimization of the performance diagnostics and training planning in rifle shooting is possible. This project is conducted in close cooperation with the German Shooting Federation.

Duration

• 2019 - 2022

Partners

• Stefan Müller (Deutscher Schützenbund e.V., DSB)

Funding

• Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft (BISp)

Hip osteoarthritis is associated with joint pain and functional limitations and is a leading cause for impairment in the older population. When the personal suffering of patients is too great and conservative treatment methods no longer help, pain relief and restoration of the activity level can be achieved by means of a total hip replacement. Despite a good clinical functional outcome, deviations in the gait pattern often remain and can lead to osteoarthritis in neighboring joints. The goal of our subproject is to predict which patients are susceptible to an unfavorable course after total hip arthroplasty (i.e. characterized by deviations in gait patterns and increased joint loads) and thus have an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis in adjacent joints. Early identification is necessary to optimize rehabilitation after total hip replacement and reduce treatment costs for the healthcare system.

Duration

• 2022 - 2025

Partners

• Dr. Stefan van Drongelen (Klinik für Orthopädie (Friedrichsheim) des Universitätsklinikums Frankfurt)

The research project "Influence of the craniomandibular system on human postural control" is funded by the German Research Foundation. The aim of the project is to investigate for the first time the influences of controlled motor activity of the craniomandibular system (CMS) on human postural control in predictable and unpredictable situations. For this purpose, the movements of participants during different dynamic balance tasks are recorded on a kinematic and muscular level and analyzed with state-of-the-art models of motor control. This interdisciplinary research approach will continue previous research to comprehensively understand the influence of CMS on postural control processes.

Duration

• 2019 - 2022

Partners

• Prof. Dr. med. dent. M. Schmitter (Universitätsklinikum Würzburg)
• PD Dr. med. dent. D. Hellmann (Akademie für Zahnärztliche Fortbildung Karlsruhe)
• Dr. S. Ringhof (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)

Funding

• Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The aim of the collaborative research project "JuBot – Young at heart with robots: Versatile assistance robotics for managing everyday life" is to develop humanoid robots and exoskeletons with assistance functions that support elderly people in accomplishing everyday tasks. Thereby, the focus is on personalizing the assistance functions in order to optimally adapt the systems to the very individual needs of older people. The project is divided into four research areas: (A) Mechano-Informatics of Assistive Robot Technologies, (B) Personalized and Context-Sensitive Assistance, (C) Motor and Cognitive Training, and (D) Future Living with Assistive Robots. The scientific contribution of the BioMotion Center is assigned to research area (C). Specifically, the goal is to develop coupled biomechanical human-robot models to optimize the personalization process. Furthermore, concepts are developed how the motor performance of elderly people can be diagnosed with the help of humanoid robot systems and exoskeletons and how motor performance can be improved or maintained by robot-assisted, personalized training programs.

Duration

• 2021 - 2026

Partners

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. T. Asfour (IAR, KIT)
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. B. Hein (IAR, KIT)
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. S. Matthiesen (IPEK, KIT)
• Prof. Dr. A. Woll (IfSS, KIT)
• Dr. J. Krell-Rösch (IfSS, KIT)

Funding

• Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung

Physical education teachers may be confronted with the following challenges: (1) Describing and analyzing sports movements and understanding them from a biomechanical perspective are central components of physical education in high school. Due to the lack of a basic understanding of physical quantities (e.g., force-time curves in jumps), this often causes problems for pupils. (2) In physical education, physical education teachers often have to deal with very heterogeneous learning groups that usually have physical education only once a week (physical activity time < 75min). As a result, pupils often have great difficulty in acquiring new sports skills. (3) In addition, physical education teachers often cannot demonstrate all the sports skills that are relevant to physical education classes and thus give pupils an idea of exactly what the sports skill to be learned looks like. Given these challenges, the goal of this project is to develop digital solutions that (1) help to visualize mechanical quantities and make them tangible and (2) support motor learning processes in physical education in high school.

Duration

• 2021 - 2023

Partners

• Dr. Tobias Wunsch (ZLB)

Funding

• Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg