Workshops

The goal of this workshop is to aid in course development and engaged learning strategies for individuals who teach biomechanics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Educators who are interested in becoming more effective in course design, assessment development, and active learning techniques are encouraged to attend. The workshop will include an overview of current pedagogical strategies such as backward course design, framing, and modern technology tools for teaching. After this introduction, participants will have time and support to develop specific deliverables including syllabus/course design, engaged learning sessions, assignments (including lab activities), and assessments. The workshop will conclude with a debrief, where participants will be encouraged to discuss their deliverables, brainstorm additional goals, and learn about and contribute to the new ASB Teaching Repository.

During the workshop, individuals will have the opportunity to connect with instructors from similar programs or institutions. The application of skills may contribute to lecture or lab-based classes. The overall goal is to help develop an actionable, tangible component that is informed by recent pedagogical techniques and can be implemented quickly into current practice. Equity and inclusion, technology in the classroom, and the integration of modern pedagogical techniques will be highlighted. Attendees will be encouraged to add their findings to a dedicated section of the ASB Teaching Repository and will be invited to participate in a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) intended to continue conversations, make ongoing teaching improvements, and develop community among biomechanics educators. The VCoP will meet twice after the 2023 ASB Annual Meeting.

This workshop will present a new “Stroke Grand Challenge Competition” to be held for the next three years at the American Society of Biomechanics conference, along with the new Matlab-based “Neuromusculoskeletal Modeling Pipeline” (NMSM Pipeline) that enhances OpenSim with model personalization and treatment optimization functionality. The competition will challenge the research community to use personalized neuromusculoskeletal models to design personalized neurorehabilitation treatments that improve walking function for three individuals post-stroke. Researchers can perform the computational treatment design process using the NMSM Pipeline or any other software. Each year of the competition, extensive experimental walking data (video motion capture, split-belt instrumented treadmill, surface and fine-wire EMG, and metabolic cost) collected from a different individual post-stroke will be released to the research community on Simtk.org, along with a personalized neuromusculoskeletal model developed using the NMSM Pipeline and OpenSim. Researchers will use a personalized model and predictive walking optimizations to design a personalized neurorehabilitation intervention that maximizes recovery of bilateral walking symmetry and normal walking speed. The workshop will be presented in two parts. The first part will describe the “Stroke Grand Challenge Competition” and NMSM Pipeline software, including the four-phase model personalization process (joint, muscle-tendon, neural control, and ground contact model personalization) and three-phase treatment optimization process (tracking, verification, and prediction optimization). The second part will present interactive training tutorials for each phase of the model personalization and treatment optimization process.

Time series in movement science are often noisy and irregular, creating numerous analytical challenges. Examples such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and spatiotemporal gait parameters all vary considerably over multiple time scales, ranging from a few milliseconds to several minutes and beyond. Traditional linear statistics do not capture the temporal changes that occur across time scales. Nonlinear analyses are methods to quantify the complexity of human movement, providing a window into the underlying interactions of coordinative processes. Nonlinear analyses also capture changes in movement dynamics that are commonly missed using linear measures. One common class of nonlinear analysis, collectively known as fractal analysis, provides a robust means for exploring movement dynamics defined by many time scales. This workshop will introduce fractal theory and its relevance in human movements and physiology. In addition, workshop attendees will be provided with hands-on instruction in applying basic fractal analysis on human movement data. Recent developments will also be presented. Upon workshop completion, participants will acquire (1) a deeper understanding of the underlying mathematics and theory on fractality in movement science, (2) novel approaches of fractal analyses that overcome data length limitations, (3) software for performing analyses on their own data, and (4) knowledge on best practices for fractal analysis in research. Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring their own data to maximize learning experience; example datasets will also be provided. The only prerequisites are college level algebra and a basic proficiency with MATLAB. Participants of all backgrounds including researchers, clinicians, and students of all levels are encouraged to attend.

STEM fields like Biomechanics need to become more equitable, diverse and inclusive to attract, support, and retain future generations of Biomechanists. The large majority of members of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) are faculty or students in academic institutions. One of the most accessible, and impactful, actions these members can take to achieve a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive future is to understand and better support comprehensive admissions practices. ASB members in industry also benefit from understanding these practices, as they are readily applicable to hiring and promotion practices. Comprehensive admissions practices consider the whole applicant including their life experiences and personal attributes, not just traditional academic metrics such as grade point average and standardized test scores. Comprehensive admissions practices present several advantages over more traditional admissions practices based primarily on test scores and grades: (1) they help identify and recruit students who are more likely to complete their degree program and be successful in the long term; and (2) they help to recruit a more diverse student body. This workshop will include presentations on these topics and small-group discussions for attendees to develop personal action plans that advance comprehensive review at their organization or their ability to succeed when applying for programs or positions that use comprehensive review.

The federal government funds biomechanics research and has numerous available funding opportunities across multiple agencies. This workshop will include representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC). They will present current information on research programs and initiatives, training and career development opportunities, and application and review processes. Differences between agencies will also be highlighted. Federal representatives attend conferences like ASB to keep abreast of cutting-edge science, meet with attendees, disseminate funding opportunities, and answer applicant or grantee questions. Some federal representatives may be able to connect people performing similar research or addressing related research questions from different angles to facilitate new collaborations. Attendees will have opportunities during the workshop and the conference to reach out to these individuals for additional information or with questions. After presentations by designated speakers from each agency, there will be open Q&A for all panelists. Contact information will be provided. This workshop is appropriate for researchers of all career stages, from trainees to senior investigators. Participants will gain a greater understanding of the federal funding application and review processes, as well as similarities and differences between the respective funding agencies. Speakers will provide diverse options for research opportunities while bringing unique perspectives on how and where to apply for funding.

Biomechanical measurements have the potential to predict and prevent injury, monitor disease progression, and inform clinical interventions. Traditionally, these measurements require expensive equipment and trained personnel, which typically limits studies to a small number of participants. Biomechanical data are also time-consuming to process, aggregate, and share. We are creating two new tools, OpenCap and AddBiomechanics, which enable researchers to more easily and quickly collect, analyze, and share data. OpenCap (opencap.ai) measures three-dimensional human movement using smartphone videos; AddBiomechanics (addbiomechanics.org) performs automatic scaling of OpenSim models and computes inverse kinematics and dynamics from motion capture files. These tools were released in 2022 and are now in use by hundreds of biomechanics researchers. In this tutorial, participants will learn how these new tools have been validated and how they expedite lab-based and out-of-lab studies of hundreds of participants, with applications to movement screening, injury prevention, and monitoring rehabilitation. A hands-on tutorial will teach participants how to incorporate these tools into their research to obtain high-quality data and develop expertise in common workflows for simulation and analysis. To conclude, we will discuss how these tools support data sharing and large-scale analysis in biomechanics research. Large, high-quality, and aggregated movement datasets will enable researchers to utilize machine learning and other techniques to discover novel biomarkers that are robust and reliable. We welcome participants and the larger biomechanics community to use these new tools and become part of the community of users collecting and sharing biomechanics data to advance the field.

This workshop brings together a collection of NIH-funded biomechanics investigators to provide advice and answer questions on how to succeed at obtaining an R01 research award.