EDC Projects

The ISB with various companies actively supports the Economically Developing Countries by funding projects, infrastructure, students research, ISB member research and visits to different sites in economically developing countries.

The Federal University of Pampa (UNIAMPA) is a young university established in a remote and low income zone of Rio Grande do Sul state in Brazil, bordered by Argentina and Uruguay. When Professor Felipe Carpes moved to UNIPAMPA there weren't any facilities for biomechanics research. Starting from nothing but a book donation made possible by Irene Davis (at the time at the University of Delaware), as well as Marco Vaz and the ISB, Professor Carpes has built up his Research Group on Applied Neuromechanics in only five years to become one of the best-equipped laboratories for biomechanics research in South America.

This research collaboration is a joint initiative between the Institut National de la Jeunesse de l’'Education Physique et du Sport (INJEPS) at the Université d'Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Bénin, Queen’'s University, Canada, and the Université de Valenciennes, France. This project represents an exchange in knowledge in which a visit by Professor Lawani M. Mansourou (INJEPS) to North America aided the Beninese academics in broadening their teaching and research methods, and Professor Geneviève Dumas' (Queen's) travel to Africa facilitated Canadian researchers in understanding the biomechanics of head load carriage and pregnancy. Not only were the faculty members involved in this sharing of cultural experiences, in June-July 2010, Ms. Erica Beaucage-Gauvreau (Queen's) was also able to spend a month in Porto-Novo, Bénin, to collect data for her MScEng project.

Biomechanics training and clinical service is at an infantile stage in India. An urgent need to integrate clinical biomechanics in healthcare motivated Dr. Rajani Mullerpatan to establish a biomechanics center at MGM Institute of Health Sciences, Navi Mumbai, India. Initial positive and encouraging interaction with Prof. Julie Steele (ISB President 2009-2011) and thereafter continued support from Dr. Andrea Hemmerich and the ISB Executive Council is of immense help to establish this lab as part of the EDC program. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2013 between MGM School of Physiotherapy at MGM IHS, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB), Cardiff University, UK, and the ISB to structure and foster teamwork. Prof. Robert Van Deursen, Cardiff University, is providing technical support in design and installation of the lab. Dr. Mullerpatan is working with Prof. B. Ravi, IITB, to seek support from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for lab establishment. The space for the lab is provided by MGM Trust. We are awaiting a generous donation of force plates from AMTI and potential support from Vicon for a motion analysis system. Installation of the force plates and motion analysis system, along with existing resources, will allow collaborative work between the four main collaborating organizations in the form of training and research in biomechanics.

The Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (TATCOT), located in Moshi at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, provides courses in orthopaedic technology to English speaking students from across Africa. In November 2005, Brian Davis (then ISB President) visited Harold Shangali and Longini Mtalo at TATCOT, making their ‘grand vision’ of a future gait lab a real possibility. Training began the following year with a trip by Mr. Shangali and Mr. Mtalo to Kit Vaughan’s gait lab at the University of Cape Town from where the Vicon motion analysis system was subsequently donated. A couple of months later, ISB members Joe Hamill, Geza Kogler, and Brian Davis helped local staff install AMTI force platforms, donated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, in the TATCOT facility. After trouble shooting a few technical issues with the camera equipment that were eventually resolved with the support of Vicon and ISB representatives, the gait lab was successfully opened in November 2007!

The Moi Teaching and Referral University Hospital project is a collaborative effort between Kenneth Chelule of the ISB and Dr. Kibor Lelei, a specialist orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. Their objectives were to set up a gait lab, consisting of a second-hand Motion Analysis Corporation camera system donated by Kenneth Chelule, for clinical and research initiatives to address local issues. Marco Vaz (ISB Executive Council member) helped guide the process of transporting the camera system from the UK to Kenya, before the system was successfully installed by a Motion Analysis Corporation (MAC) representative in January 2010. After receiving specialist training in the equipment by the MAC representative, staffs at Moi University Hospital are now looking forward to collaborating in using the new facility in enhancing patient management and research.

The Faculty, including Dr. Rafael Reyes, at the Los Andes University (ULA) in Mérida, Venezuela had been interested in developing a graduate program in Biomechanics as early as 2002; the ISB offered its support of this initiative following the 2007 Congress. Equipment for the gait lab - including a second-hand 4-camera Peak system from the University of Maryland and a new Delsys EMG system - was donated to support their teaching and research initiatives. Joe Hamill and Li Li, representing the ISB, helped procure these donations and organize shipment of the equipment, which arrived in Mérida in October 2009. At this point, they were able to arrange their visit to ULA in early 2010 to carry out the installation. The lab was successfully set up and is ready for students, staff and collaborators to launch their research!

In addition to the establishment of the gait lab with the Biomechanics group, a MATSCAN force measurement system from Tekscan was donated to the Center of Innovation Technology (CITEC) at ULA. This contribution was arranged by Ediuska Laurens, ISB Student Representative (2007-2009), and Dr. Herman Finol, Director of CITEC, to facilitate the screening of prosthesis and implant patients on the basis of foot pressures. Additionally, the clinicians at CITEC can now monitor the progress and efficiency of foot function during rehabilitation and muscle training.

The gait lab project at the Simón Bolívar University (USB) in Caracas, Venezuela, was initiated by Ediuska Laurens, then ISB Student Representative, who wished to advance the field of Biomechanics in her home country. During a trip home from the USA in December 2007, she was able to meet Dr. Carmen Müller-Karger, who had expressed an interest in adopting this technology for their Biomechanics and Mechatronics research teaching programs. An extensive renovation was required by USB in order to accommodate the new laboratory equipment, which consisted of an AMTI force platform and amplifiers donated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and AMTI, respectively, a new Motion Analysis Corporation Hawk camera system, and an EMG system provided by Delsys. The laboratory space was ready for ISB representative Dr. Susan D’Andrea, who arrived at the end of May 2009, to assist with the installation of the equipment. Ediuska announced the opening of the lab to the ISB community a few weeks later.