Discoveries
MSU NEUROMECHANICS LAB WORKS TO REDUCE FALLS, PREVENT INJURY AND PROMOTE SAFETY By James Carskadon, Photos by Beth Wynn
Luke Ramsey, a senior kinesiology major from Greenville, walks while carrying a heavy load so sensors can detail the way his body responds to a changing environment. Neuromechanics Lab graduate students Sachini Kodithuwakku, a native of Sri Lanka, left, and Alana Turner of Mendenhall help collect data as lab co-director Harish Chander looks on. hen Harish Chander joined the Mississippi State Department of Kinesiology in 2014, he got the keys to a former classroom in McCarthy Gymnasium. The space was mostly empty, but full of potential for a laboratory that would generate new knowledge of neuromechanics—a science that combines neurology and biomechanics to explain human movement. Six years later, the space is filled with state-of-the-art biomechanics equipment and
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students of all levels conducting research that will help reduce falls in the workplace and with the elderly, identify potential workplace safety hazards, improve athletic performance, and help children with special needs improve their movement patterns. “The goal of all this is to try to address and prevent falls, promote safety and prevent injuries,” Chander said. “We’re trying to address a diverse real-world population. Research that we’re doing
also turns into evidence-based practice for physical therapists, occupational therapists, ergonomists, occupational nurses and other health care professionals.” When a person slips or falls, some broad details of what caused the incident are immediately known, like whether the surface was slick or a step was missed. It’s the small details of what happens before and during a fall that interest MSU Neuromechanics Laboratory researchers. To
