Julie P. Burland
Department of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut, USA
My name is Julie P. Burland and I received support from the ISB Student Congress Travel Grant to help reduce expenses related to the travel to this year’s XXVI ISB/ASB Congress in Calgary, AB. As a young researcher, I have a strong desire to expand my knowledge base and skill set related to reducing disability after traumatic injury. Being afforded the opportunity to attend the combined ISB/ASB Congress provided me with further insight into the ongoing technological and research advancements within the field of biomechanics. Being able to attend a symposium such as the ISB/ASB World Congress provided me with an immeasurable opportunity to converse amongst other highly regarded academic scholars and scientists. This was exactly the type of opportunity that continues to promote my growth in my career and improve my ability to be a successful independent researcher within the areas of biomechanics following traumatic sport injury.
I had the pleasure of presenting some preliminary work from our laboratory evaluating how temporal delays in quadriceps muscle activation patterns directly influence patient perceived function after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). We found that in patients who had delayed neuromuscular control strategies (i.e. they activated the vastus lateralis of the quadriceps muscle after reaching peak internal knee extension moment) reported worse on commonly utilized subjective outcomes measuring sport related function and quality of life. These findings highlight the need to further evaluate the influence of altered neuromuscular muscle activation strategies during landing and their influence on patient function and quality of life after ACLR. Several discussions following my presentation arose, which bring to light several areas for future research to explore. These included whether there were hamstring co-activation strategies employed by these patients after ACLR that were attempting to compensate for these altered quadriceps activation patterns. Additionally, we discussed how differences between sex may influence such neuromuscular strategies, thus my future research will aim to explore the effect of sex on quadriceps activation patterns during functional tasks. The fruitful discussions had during this conference have provided me with new questions to help the advancement of comprehensive patient care after ACLR.
I thank the committee and the International Society of Biomechanics board for their consideration and commitment to this award.
Annamária Péter
Neuromuscular Research Center, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
This February an e-mail has arrived with such a great news saying that my ISB Student Congress Travel Grant Application has been successful. Then a few weeks later other e-mails arrived regarding my submitted abstracts. I have submitted one abstract to the 14th biennial Footwear Biomechanics Symposium that was held in Kananaskis and one to the XXVI. ISB Congress that was held in Calgary. Both of these abstracts have been accepted as oral presentations. At first, I felt happy and worried at the same time. I was happy because I had such a great opportunity to present our newest studies, meet great researchers and I was worried because I had two oral presentations within a few days from two different studies. Even after presenting my first presentation I felt extremely lucky for this opportunity. For this presentation I also got an award, The Peter Cavanagh Award for Basic Research. One of my Supervisors, Professor Toni Arndt, has got exactly the same Award twenty years ago also in Canada twenty kilometres away from Kananaskis that makes the whole thing even more special.
The ISB Conference was so well-organized from the first minute to the last. Although I have been to some International Conferences before, this was my first ISB Conference (and my first trip outside Europe) that I enjoyed very much. The Scientific program was so great. Even during the Opening Ceremony, after the great talk of Professor Walter Herzog, the presentation of Hugh Herr was so special. I have heard Hugh Herr’s TED talk before so I knew his story and his work but in his presentation he showed us his newest studies and results and that was breathtaking. I really liked that this Conference was much more than “just” a scientific Conference. Since, there were many events such as the student mentoring lunch, student night out, Advancing Women in Biomechanics just to mention a few. During the student mentoring lunch I have got answers to my questions based on my Mentor’s experiences and very useful advice also for my present and future studies. During the student night out I could meet and talk to other students in a local place where we went with the yellow school bus. While during the Advancing Women in Biomechanics event, we learned about how hard it can be for a woman in our (and in any other) field and we have got strategies on how it can be made better. Also, we could talk about our experiences in this matter in small groups and find possible solutions.
Taking part in this Conference was such a great experience that I enjoyed very much. I am very grateful for the International Society of Biomechanics for this opportunity.
András Hegyi
Neuromuscular Research Center, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
The ISB/ASB 2019 congress was organised in Calgary, Canada. As a final-year PhD student, I considered it very important to attend this congress and I was very lucky to get generous support from the ISB and from my supervisors, Taija Finni and Neil Cronin.
Although I visited more than ten international conferences before, those did not focus solely on biomechanics. Therefore, I expected to learn a lot and meet several researchers from my field. I had three main aims for the conference: (1) to present my poster and let others know what I am currently working on, (2) to visit as many sessions as possible (including not only the ones I comfortably understand but also sessions on distant research areas), and (3) to connect with other researchers. I expected that these would help me broaden my perspective on biomechanics and decide which direction I would like to go after I finish my PhD.
This was the second occasion I had a poster presentation and my experience was somewhat mixed. It was very positive that it gave me the opportunity to discuss all the people stopping by my poster. These interactions felt freer, more personal, and not so narrowly focused on the actual work, which was preferable when compared to the general discussion after oral presentations. The negative side was that after a few people visiting my poster it got very boring to explain the poster again and again. In the beginning, I summarised the poster in 6-8 sentences but after an hour it reduced to one short sentence. Possibly, with more experience, I will be able to improve this in this future.
The oral sessions I visited were of very high quality. I visited much more sessions than I usually do at other conferences. I enjoyed the many sessions on tendons and muscles, but also tasted very different areas from mine such as those on wearables, prosthetics, and the biomechanics of wildlife animals. I also appreciated that there was a memorial session on the work of Paavo Komi, who was the leader of my current laboratory for a very long time and stands as a role model for many of us. I barely left any time to rest between sessions, and last day I realised that my brain could not process any new information. During the congress, it became clear that I barely knew anything from the broad field of biomechanics. Although it feels somewhat disappointing after studying so much biomechanics, I also see this as an endless opportunity for improvement.
My third aim, networking, was also beyond expectations. The coffee breaks, long lunch periods, and nearby bars gave great platform for networking. I met old friends and also many others who I have known only from social media and manuscripts. I believe that some of these discussions will result in good collaborations. I learned about several interesting post-doc opportunities, which further motivates me to finalise my PhD thesis.
Additional to the scientific side, I really enjoyed the social events such as the student night out, studient-mentor lunch, and the event on advancing women in biomechanics.
Aside from attending the congress, I had the opportunity to spend some days in the Rocky Mountains and taste the beautiful life of friendly Canadians. Meeting black bear and grizzly bear with cubs in the mountains, and stopping on the highway because of a few dozens of goats wandering on the road are some of the additional experiences I will never forget.
After these days in Canada, I feel like I am part of a new big family and I hope to participate in ISB 2021 in Stockholm, which is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever lived in.
