Predicting Injury Risk with Machine Learning Methods using a Longitudinal Data Set

Sports injury has long been causing concern to the athlete’s performance, financial aspect, and psychological impact. This is even more prominent in recent years as sports become more widely available o the mass population. Reducing the chances of athletes experiencing injuries not allows them to maintain optimal performance during training and...

Towards dynamically stable gait of an 8 degrees of freedom exoskeleton through predictive forward dynamics simulation

The main form of mobility for paraplegic patients is by wheelchair. However, not moving the legs comes with adverse health effects. Exoskeletons are one solution to get these patients walking again. One of the aims of exoskeleton research is the complete restoration of locomotion for paraplegic patients. The achieved gait must be stable, safe...

Diffusion MRI case study in epilespy: A Hemispheric Regional Based Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Tractography and Connectome in patients with Focal and Genetic Generalised Epilepsy

Background: Imaging in the field of epilepsy has been a lasting challenge. In genetic generalised epilepsy (GGE) patients, conventional neuroimaging methods such as the MRI often appear normal and even in focal epilepsy (FE) an obvious structural abnormality is not always visualised. The objective of this exploratory case study is to identify...

Parameter Scaling Protocol for Upper-limb Musculoskeletal Models

Generic musculoskeletal models are not reliable predicting inter-individual variations in muscle forces. Scaling the model parameters is necessary to represent the muscle characteristics of the subjects and thus to pinpoint the differences in force capacity. Optimal Fiber (OFL) and Tendon Slack Length (TSL) have been identified as the two most...

Modelling Short-Range Stiffness: Comparison Between Hill- and Huxley-type Muscle Models

Musculoskeletal models often use Hill-type models to study and simulate muscle behaviour. Due to fast simulation time and ability to simulate large and slow movements Hill-type models have remained largely unchanged throughout recent years. Large and slow movements spend a large part in steady state behaviour and thus experience limited...

Smart Sensor Shorts: Prevention of hamstring injuries in professional and recreational football athletes by analyzing and monitoring kinematic data

Multiple studies indicated that the degree of muscle strain is the most relevant parameter in understanding the injury mechanism behind a hamstring strain injury. To monitor this parameter a new system is developed; the Smart Sensor Shorts. The system contains five Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) integrated in a sports tights. The purpose of...

Inertia compensation for perturbations on instrumented treadmills: Optimization and validation

Instrumented treadmills and perturbations of the treadmill are commonly used for gait analysis and can provide real time biomechanical information and feedback of gait patterns and abnormalities. Force plates in the treadmill are combined with motion capture data and fed into a musculoskeletal model. High accuracy of the force plates is needed...

Explore Pole Vaulting Strategies by control optimization: A biomechanical model based exploration

The development of the pole vaulting record is only improved by 1 centimeter over the last 25 years. Multiple studies show signs of different control strategies in elite pole vaulters, without pointing out what the cause of the differences is The aim of this research is to explore pole vaulting strategies by a control torque optimization. The...

Design and Characterization of a Variable Stiffness Running Prosthesis for Bilateral Transtibial Amputee Sprinters

The purpose of this thesis project is to design a new concept of sprinting prosthesis to enhance the acceleration phase performance of bilateral transtibial amputees (BTAs) competing in sprinting races. Amputee sprinters are hampered in the acceleration phase of a sprint race by the compliance of their prostheses. Increased contact times, and...

Brain Dynamic Information Flow Estimation Based on EEG and Diffusion MRI: A Proof-of-principle Study and Application in Stroke

In the hemiparetic stroke, functional recovery of paretic limb may occur with the reorganization of neural networks in the brain. Electroencephalography (EEG), with an excellent temporal resolution, can be used to reveal functional changes in the brain following a stroke. This study assessed a novel multimodal brain imaging technique namely...

Finite element eye model with retinal detachment, investigating head and eye movements as progression factors

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) is a sight threatening condition. In this type of RD a break in the retina allows liquefied vitreous to enter the subretinal space and the retina to detach. The prognosis concerning the patients' visual ability is better if the RD has not progressed to the macula. The patient is given a posturing advice of...