Fakultäten der RUB » Fakultät für Sportwissenschaft » Bewegungslehre und Biomechanik


Lehr- und Forschungsbereich Bewegungswissenschaft

Human Movement Science

Anschrift: Gesundheitscampus Nord Nr.10, 44801 Bochum | E-Mail


Latest News

 

Twitter

Dr. Brent Raiteri receives 3-year research grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG)

We congratulate Dr. Brent Raiteri who was awarded a 3-year research grant from the DFG to investigate “Mechanical and neural factors underlying muscle performance during submaximal voluntary shortening contractions”. This research aims to uncover how history-dependent residual force depression interacts with (I) the muscle’s force-producing capacity, (II) the upstream excitability of the motor cortex and spinal cord, and (III) the muscle’s underlying neural drive. We hope that the planned experiments provide useful information for developing more effective strategies to enhance muscle performance, reduce injury risk or prevent age-and-disability-related functional decline. This research is also important for advancing current neuromusculoskeletal models, which are used to interpret muscle function during everyday movements and assess the consequences of clinical conditions, as well as inform surgical planning and mechatronic design.

Contractile, elastic and neural contributions to stretch-shortening cycle performance

We are very thankful to the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) for their support of our research on stretch-shortening cycle contractions (SSCs). The aim of this research project is to provide a holistic analysis of contractile, biomechanical, and neuromechanical factors contributing to the increased performance during SSCs. Overall, this research project increases knowledge on basic muscle function and helps to better understand SSCs as one of the most important type of muscle action of everyday human locomotion. This is not only interesting in terms of basic research on muscle function but also has the potential to contribute to the development of efficient humanoid motors as used in medical devices, robotics and prosthetics.

1st place Young Investigators Award for Dr Brent Raiteri

We are very proud and congratulate our team member Dr Brent Raiteri for becoming 1st place winner of the Young Investigators Award of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS)! This competitive and prestigious award is an integral part of the annual ECSS congresses and was established for the promotion of young scientists and the fostering of scientific excellence. Brent was awarded for his outstanding research on in vivo human muscle mechanics entitled “Muscle-tendon length and force affect human tibialis anterior central aponeurosis stiffness in vivo”. Within this study, which was conducted under the supervision of Dr Andrew Cresswell and Dr Glen Lichtwark at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), it was shown that the aponeurosis has distinct elastic features compared to the tendon that should no longer be neglected when analyzing in vivo human muscle function.

The muscle protein titin and eccentric contractions

We are very thankful to the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (www.mercur-research.de/) for supporting our research on the giant muscle protein titin’s role during eccentric contractions. In a one-year pilot project we will setup experiments that involve in vivo biomechanical testing and in vitro muscle testing to investigate human muscle and neurophysiology responses to training.