UNO Study Aims to Improve Prostheses Use
- contact: Charley Reed - University Communications
- phone: 402.554.2129
- email: unonews@unomaha.edu
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OMAHA – Research from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) could soon help an estimated 2 million people in America living with amputations thanks to a nearly half-a-million-dollar, highly competitive grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Using funding from the $425,000 grant, a team of scientists in UNO’s Biomechanics Research Building will spend the next two years working with undergraduate and graduate students to examine sensory connections between lower-limb amputation sites and prostheses worn to improve mobility.
This is the latest NIH grant for the Biomechanics Research Building team, who made history last August securing a $10.1 million grant to create the nation’s first Center for Research in Human Movement Variability.
The new study is the result of doctoral student Jenny Kent’s dissertation research and work done by UNO alumnus Shane Wurdeman, Ph.D., who is currently a researcher for Hanger, a nationally-recognized medical equipment and clinical care company based out of Texas and is a consultant on the study.
Prior to coming to UNO, Kent had spent seven years working as a researcher for UK Ministry of Defense at Headley Court, which currently serves as the country's main military rehabilitation center for those who sustain life-changing injuries - including amputations.
“When you lose part of a lower extremity you don’t just lose the mechanical aspect; there is a huge sensory component that you no longer have,” she explained. “The aim of the intervention we’re testing is to enable people to sense the position and movement of their prosthesis better.”
The research will examine how minor vibrations at varying frequencies could be applied through the prosthetic socket in order to condition the limb to better respond to the environment.
Throughout the study, Kent will work with Biomechanics Research Building Director Nicholas Stergiou, Ph.D., who has published numerous articles on movement variability and how different stimuli can help adjust people’s walking patterns.
“Humans are not like robots,” Stergiou explained. “There are countless variations in the ways we move every day. This study is to see whether variable signals sent to the amputated limb can provoke more natural movement while wearing a prosthesis.”
Stergiou and Kent explained that this is particularly important for people who use a prosthesis that have to navigate uneven terrain, especially outdoor activities such as hiking or jogging.
“A lot of work and money has gone into developing high-end prosthetic technology that can mimic a foot or a knee, but the ability to sense and appropriately move and place the limb is important for actually being able to exploit these features,” Kent said. “If the intervention is successful, it will increase adaptability, potentially reducing falls and allowing people to tackle environments and pursue activities that they might normally avoid.”
If the study is successful, Stergiou expects there to be a high level of interest in applying the process to lower-limb prostheses given the inexpensive and simple nature of the therapy. Additionally, there would be room to expand the research to include upper-limb prostheses as well.
What Stergiou also finds exciting is that given the nature of the grant, which is classified as an R15 by the NIH, many of the students who will be recording and analyzing the data are undergraduates.
“While you never know which way a research project will turn out, any time you involve students like we are doing here you are guaranteed to spark an interest that encourages them to pursue a master’s or a doctoral degree and become the next great mind in the field,” Stergiou said. “That is as important of a takeaway as anything.”
Participants in the study will come from across the region to the UNO Biomechanics Research Building, which features everything from a virtual reality laboratory to a its own prosthetics shop.
The Biomechanics Research Building opened on the Dodge Campus in 2013 and is the only stand-alone research building dedicated to biomechanics in the world.
For questions or media inquiries, please contact:
Sam Petto, UNO Media Relations Coordinator
unonews@unomaha.edu
402.554.2704
or
Charley Reed, UNO Associate Director of Media Relations
unonews@unomaha.edu
402.554.2129
Related Links
UNO Announces New Bachelor's Degree in Biomechanics
Biomechanics Team Earns Largest Research Grant in School History
At a Glance: Biomechanics Research Building
About the University of Nebraska at Omaha
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