March 2020

ISB Now - March 2020

ISB News

President's Blog - Toni Arndt

Students Corner  - Megan Smidebush

National Biomechanics Day Postponement/Cancellation - Paul DeVita

ISB recommendations: Reporting of intersegmental forces and moments - Timothy Derrick 

ISB Fellows - a short presentation - Véronique Feipel

ISB International Travel Grant Reports

South America Representative Report - Felipe Carpes

Outside ISB and Technical Group News

ISB Affiliate Society Announcements - ASB, ANZSB, PSB

ISB Technical and Working Groups - Motor Control, 3-D Analysis of Human Movement, CNB

A word from our Sponsors

Vicon and Blue Trident

Presidents Blog - March 2020

Dear All,

I am writing this blog in a difficult time. About a week ago I wrote a draft of the blog with an optimistic, happy introduction, but just in this short time a lot has changed. Of course everybody is in some way or another aware of and maybe affected by the COVID-19 virus. As President of ISB I would like to address this issue with the entire biomechanics community. The ISB, as the only comprehensive and international society in the field, supports all populations and encourages academic staff and students to listen to the scientifically based recommendations provided by international and national experts. The virus is causing national and international disruptions previously unheard of. In some countries, entire university systems have shut down, healthcare systems are struggling, people are restricted to their homes and borders are shut. International travel has been reduced to minimal levels. We need a global effort to protect the most vulnerable, to study the virus, and to care for the sick and this requires all of our care and all of our participation. There are no certain prognoses telling us when the situation may revert to normal again, so we all need to sensibly and conscientiously take responsibility to attempt to minimize the spread and impact of this virus. Despite the, in my opinion, considerable advantages of physical meetings, we now need to adapt and utilise the powerful platforms available for conducting virtual meetings for an uncertain time to come.

ISB, like most other societies, international organisations and large companies has not been spared from direct problems caused by the COVID-19 virus. One of the bids for the 2023 ISB congress will most likely be withdrawn and others are having problems. ISB will therefore extend the bid application deadline for the first time to ensure potential bidders have a fair possibility of providing high quality bids for our conference. Many, if not most, ISB members have had scientific trips disrupted or cancelled and the majority of national and international scientific and other events are being cancelled. These include the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Many other major relevant events being reconsidered are the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the European Society of Biomechanics meeting in Milan, Italy and the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports, Liverpool, England. Some countries including those ISB is encouraging to become Affiliated Societies are having serious financial difficulties. I have to admit that, despite the planning for ISB2021 going well, we in Stockholm have of course also become acutely aware of concerns about the effects that natural and other crises can have upon such an international conference.

This issue is a breath taking example of the importance of scientific, evidence based information instead of rumours, false information and fast spreading stories on social media. Please take your responsibility as a scientist to not only provide scientifically solid information from your own research, but also to act as a role model in your reactions to social media facts and to only communicate facts based upon solid scientific evidence. Right now the international scientific community is indispensable in assisting that the measures taken to be able to get through this situation can be efficiently communicated and implemented over the whole World.

I am excited to chair my first ISB Executive Council meeting in conjunction with ISBS in Liverpool soon. However, as with many meetings planned in the next months, exactly how the Council Meeting will be conducted is uncertain.

Please all take care, be safe and encourage and look after each other,

Toni 

ISB President

Students Corner - Megan Smidebush (ISB Student Representative) (2)

Overview

I hope that everyone is having a great semester and enjoying the last few months before summer in the northern hemisphere – or gearing up for winter in the south.

Who all is participating in Biomechanics Day this year (April 8^th)?  I would love to hear about your ideas for raising awareness and appreciation of Biomechanics in the high school community! Send me an email, message me on Facebook or Twitter, and I will share your ideas for all to see and follow.

If anyone has any ideas or thoughts for events in Stockholm, let me know! I am open to any and all possibilities from other students!

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Get ready for ISB 2021 in Stockholm!

Upcoming Events 

July 21^st – 25^th, 2020: International Society of Biomechanics in Sports (Liverpool, UK)

August 4^th-7^th, 2020: American Society of Biomechanics Annual Conference (Atlanta, GA)

Information

For any and all graduate positions and employment, remember to stay up to date with Biomch-L.

Here is the link:  https://biomch-l.isbweb.org/forums/5-Jobs-and-Positions

Biomechanics on our Minds (BOOM) Podcast

Episode 26: Good Research and Internationalization

Episode 25: From Research to Regulation

Episode 24: Let’s Talk About Parkinson’s

Social Media

Be sure to keep up to date with ISB by liking our ISB Facebook Page, joining the Student Members Facebook Page, and following ISB on Twitter. Please reach out to me with any comments, questions, suggestions, or just to talk. You can contact me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Best Wishes,

Megan Smidebush

ISB Student Representative

National Biomechanics Day - Postponement/Cancellation

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

National Biomechanics Day has had great success the past four years with few adverse outcomes. Today however, we face as all others do, the pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. A number of labs and organizations which had registered for NBD 2020 have cancelled their events for the health and safety of their participants. We can only agree with them and we emphatically state that these issues are our primary concern too.   

While NBD is a worldwide event, it is uniquely also many individual events of small and large groups. We now ask each site to consider the health and safety of your participants and to consider one of several paths.

We advise all registered NBD groups to cancel your current events and if possible, postpone your event and we strongly ask you to follow this policy if your local and broad governing agencies deem NBD-like events are unsafe. We are now developing an October event that will enable us to safely celebrate and enjoy Biomechanics with young people. We will announce a new October date after receiving feedback from our constituencies.

Several people have suggested holding virtual NBD events this April if the governing agencies deem a virtual meeting safe and appropriate and if one has the capacity to conduct such an event. However, even virtual events require cooperation from multiple people and we therefore are not promoting this strategy at this time.

The Biomechanics Initiative, Inc, the parent organization of NBD is fully prepared to support and assist you if you hold an alternative event later this year when and if the COVID-19 threat subsides, in October as part of our revised 2020 plan, or even later this year. We fully plan to celebrate Biomechanics with an April 2021 NBD but today we prioritize everyone’s health. We promote the idea, Biomechanics Helps People, and we now help you by promoting Social Distancing.  

We thank everyone for your great support and enthusiasm and we remain confident that through all our efforts we will increase the impact of Biomechanics on people’s lives and so bring a few more smiles to everyone. For today, we promote health and safety of everyone by canceling or postponing your April NBDs.

With great regard, your friend,

Paul

Paul DeVita, Ph.D.

Founder and Director, National Biomechanics Day

ISB recommendations: Reporting of intersegmental forces and moments

Intersegmental forces and moments are integral to the analysis of human motion. They represent the net loads acting at a joint and as such allow us to mechanically evaluate the movement. Typically, we collect kinetic and kinematic data from an individual and then apply the external forces to a rigid body model of the human body that has been given the anthropometrics and kinematics of the individual. This is a complex process that requires a working knowledge of signal processing, kinematics, kinetics, modelling, inverse dynamics, and error propagation. It is not surprising that laboratories around the world have chosen different methods to accomplish these calculations. Unfortunately this has resulted in researchers presenting and interpreting intersegmental moments in a variety of ways. 

A committee was formed in the summer of 2017 (Tim Derrick, Ton van den Bogert, Andrea Cereatti, Raphael Dumas, Silvia Fantozzi, and Alberto Leardini), by ISB president Joe Hamill and assigned the task of providing some clarity to these issues. The first task was to list the topics that we wanted to cover. Among these were anthropometric modelling, joint center estimation, smoothing/filtering, method of calculation, coordinate system, evaluation perspective (internal or external), and normalization. It is unsurprising that no two of the committee members used the same methods. It also came to light that each member had logical reasons for making their decisions. At this point it became evident that a single standard for the calculation of intersegmental moments would not work. The goal of the research needs to dictate the procedures used. While reading the literature it also became evident that authors do not always explicitly state the procedures used in their estimation of intersegmental forces and moments. Even the very basic concepts of whether the moments were internal (primarily the result of muscular contraction and ligaments) or external (primarily the result of forces acting on the body) and what coordinate system (proximal segment, distal segment, joint coordinate system, etc) was used were often neglected. Seeing a graph of a joint moment in a research article and not knowing how to interpret it is common for most researchers but imagine the confusion of a first year graduate student trying to verify the results of their joint moment program by comparison with the literature.

The resulting open source article, “ISB recommendations on the reporting of intersegmental forces and moments during human motion analysis” was published in the Journal of Biomechanics. It contains an appendix that can be used as a checklist by authors, reviewers and software engineers to ensure comprehensive information is conveyed. In addition, there is companion software that has been submitted to the ISB website that presents 3D ensemble walking and running intersegmental forces and moments at the hip, knee and ankle. The coordinate system, perspective and normalization procedure can be altered for easy comparison of data. Recently a Biomch-L posting has invited the biomechanics community to comment on this paper and make suggestions. It is our hope that this paper and these tools will lead to a more comprehensive and consistent presentation of intersegmental forces and moments so that authors can better represent their ideas to the reader.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.109533

Derrick, T. R., van den Bogert, A. J., Cereatti, A., Dumas, R., Fantozzi, S., & Leardini, A. (2020). ISB recommendations on the reporting of intersegmental forces and moments during human motion analysis. Journal of Biomechanics, 99, 109533.

ISB Fellows – a short presentation

In 2013, the ISB Council agreed to establish a Fellowship of the International Society of Biomechanics (FISB). The purpose of awarding Fellowships of the ISB is to recognize distinguished professional achievement in biomechanics.  Fellows of the ISB are encouraged to provide continued professional service and leadership to the Society, particularly to foster the activities of Early Career Researchers within the Society.

Fellowships are awarded to members of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) who fulfill a series of requirements concerning membership, ISB Congress participation, scientific achievements and service to the ISB or the discipline of Biomechanics. A list of potential candidates for the next class of fellows is established by the Assessors of the Fellows, based on received nominations. This list is discussed among the fellows and the list of recommended candidates is submitted to the Executive Council of the ISB.

ISB Fellows contribute to the service and leadership of the ISB by providing active support to various activities organized by ISB Officers, Affiliate Societies, or Technical Groups. Since their specific mission is related to the activities of Early Career Researchers within the Society, they participate actively in the Mentoring Program, as mentors, but also as intermediates between mentees and mentors.

Please come and meet the Fellows at their booth during the ISB 2021 Congress in Stockholm. More information will be communicated soon.

List of ISB Fellows

Maarten Bobbert (VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Ton van den Bogert (Cleveland State University, USA)

John Challis (Pennsylvania State University, USA)

Andrew Cresswell (University of Queensland, Australia)

Brian Davis (Cleveland State University, USA)

Veronique Feipel (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)

Walter Herzog (University of Calgary, Canada)

Kenton Kaufman (Mayo Clinic, USA)

David Lloyd (Griffith University, Australia)

Jill McNitt-Gray (University of Southern California, USA)

Peter Milburn (Griffith University, Australia)

Mary Rodgers (University of Maryland, USA)

Karen Søgaard (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)

Julie Steele (University of Wollongong, Australia)

Darren Stefanyshyn (University of Calgary, Canada)

Ron Zernicke (University of Michigan, USA)

Assessors of the Fellows (2019-2021)

Brian Davis (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Veronique Feipel (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

International Travel Grant Reports

Annemarie F. Laudanski

University of Waterloo, Canada

Supported by the International Society of Biomechanics and the ISB Student International Travel Grant, I had the opportunity to travel to Erlangen, Germany and to collaborate with Dr. Bjoern Eskofier’s Machine Learning and Data Analytics (MaD) Lab at Friedrich-Alexander University. Throughout the course of this visit, I was able to work with experts on theoretical and applied research in machine learning algorithms. I was additionally exposed to state of the art research applications for wearable sensors through group meetings, ongoing discussions, and weekly seminars with both students and faculty members.

The aim of my PhD research has been to develop a wearable sensor based system capable of classifying and quantifying exposures to high knee flexion within occupational childcare settings, given their association to increased risk of osteoarthritis development. While I was able to gather theoretical knowledge of machine learning applications through courses and perform data collections at the University of Waterloo, it was important for me to have the opportunity to work with and learn from a group specializing in algorithm development to gain experience in the application of these techniques. Thanks to Dr. Eskofier and Dr. Kluge at the MaD Lab I was able to connect with students pioneering applications for human motion measurement based on wearable sensing technologies. This experience therefore lead to the application of many of these techniques to the data I had previously collected in order to calculate lower limb joint angles based on wearable sensor data.

Further to this analysis, I attended bi-weekly meetings of the Dr. Kluge’s Gait group and was able to participate in discussions involving the application of novel analysis methods to solve ongoing research questions. The other students and faculty I worked with were continuously open to discourse on machine learning tools while providing insight into the optimal means of leveraging these tools to solve a wide variety of problems within real world settings. This exposure helped increase my knowledge of machine learning applications and think critically about which techniques might be most appropriate in my own research.

In addition to the thesis related work and discussions completed while visiting the MaD Lab, I had the opportunity to collaborate on two projects involving the intersection of machine learning and virtual reality. These experiences broadened by perspective on the myriad of biomechanical applications which exist and fostered new research questions and collaboration ideas which I hope to pursue later in my research career in order to continue make impactful contributions to the field.

I sincerely thank the International Society of Biomechanics for having permitted me the opportunity to travel and learn from Dr. Eskofier and his team in Erlangen. The knowledge I gained throughout this experience will significantly impact the outcomes of my PhD and the direction of my future research endeavours while the opportunity to work within a new laboratory setting and make so many new personal connections is one I will never forget.

Lauren Forsyth

University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom

I was very humbled to be awarded an ITG from ISB for my trip to Australia at the beginning of 2019. During my 2^nd year of my PhD I established a relationship with Dr Jason Bonacci at Deakin University as I looked for additional expertise to further my research through international collaboration. Dr Bonacci and the Exercise Science department resonated with my research and after further discussion a visit was planned to complete data collection in Australia. The expertise within Deakin University would be able to give invaluable clinical insight for my stability-based application, as well as providing an environment encouraging of new methods of rehabilitation.

My PhD research has created and developed a stability-based training package which I had developed for people with chronic ankle instability. By combining both biomechanical analysis and virtual reality the training aimed to enhance rehabilitation performance and experience. I completed testing in both Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland before travelling to Victoria, Australia in January 2019, at the beginning of my final year of my PhD. My 4-month visit gave me approximately 1 month to prepare and recruit participants, while leaving enough time for the 6 weeks participation time required for testing and training. My data collection was extremely successful and was very well received by the Australian community. Even though I was only there for a short period of time I had more interest than in the UK and collected more data. Following this, my research has successfully had 3 peer-reviewed abstracts accepted at ISB 2019, International Ankle Symposium 2019, and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine conference 2019. 

This opportunity allowed me to visit a country I had never been to before and travel alone, which I had also never experienced. I left the UK during the Christmas holidays in 2018 to explore Australia as a solo traveler before beginning work where I was welcomed into the department and exposed to the different research, technologies, and processes of the Exercise Science department. It was a rewarding experience and following my month of travelling and 4 months at Deakin University I have gained a lot of confidence and focus both professionally and personally.

I would like to express my gratitude to the ISB team for providing the financial support that allowed me to go to Australia, as without it I would have found very difficult and stressful to have funded myself. All the experience and learning I acquired during my exchange period was of great importance to both my academic and personal life. It was indeed a wonderful experience with unparallel learning opportunities and I would recommend anyone considering it that it is possible and 100% an experience you will never regret and never forget!

Érica Queiroz da Silva

University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Brazil

I would like to thank the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) Council for awarding me the ISB Student Travel Grant to visit PhD. Claudia Giacomozzi at the Istituto Superiore di Sanita' (Rome, Italy) for 4 weeks (October 14th to November 15th 2019) .

My project aiming was the validation of an anatomical masking of plantar pressure for the diabetic foot. Professor Claudia gave me the opportunity to discuss the work and helped me to understand important methodological issues in anatomical masking of plantar pressure for the diabetic foot. This was a great opportunity to improve my knowledge about biomechanics of the foot and especially about the anatomical masking that I use in my research in Brazil developed by Professor Claudia. During this period, I learned new biomechanical methodologies and analyses, besides that, ways to implement in projects. As a primary result of this grant, we had an abstract approved in International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Meeting (I-Fab) that will occur at São Paulo (Brazil) from April 05-08, 2020.

I also had the opportunity to give a presentation (November 19th) at a meeting at the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli (Bologna, Italy) in which myself, Dr. Alberto Leardini, Paolo Caravaggi and other members of the institute discussed about exercise to diabetic foot. Another opportunity was to visite (November 21th) the University of Padova (Department of Information Engineering); there I had a meeting with the members of Professor Zimi Sawacha laboratory and did a seminar to Professor Zimi´s student of Kinesiology, the title of seminar was “A biomechanical assessment and the effect of physical therapy in the diabetic neuropathic foot”. I had the chance to meet other researches and to discuss about exercise to improve foot dysfunction.

Professor Claudia and other members of the Department were wonderful, and I was very well welcomed into there. Spending 4 weeks in Rome was very rewarding, there I could visit some museums, churches, soccer match and I tried a lot of Italian food and wines that were amazing. One more time I would like to thank the ISB for the financial support that allowed me to have this unique experience.

South America Representative Report - Felipe Carpes

Note: Many of the events advertised below are still scheduled, however are subjet to changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is my first report as the South America representative in the ISB executive council. It is my pleasure to share with you all the South America news.

As you may know, south hemisphere was in summer vacation period so activities were a little slower in the past two months. From now on there will be more and more activities, and some of them are already in place. Check it out below and for any questions, suggestions or ideas related to South America Biomechanics, please let me know!

For those interested to share news or opportunities related to Latin America, please do no hesitate to send me a message - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Brazil

7^th International Foot & Ankle Biomechanics meeting - postponed

i-FAB 2020 was due to be held from April 5-8, 2020 for the first time in South America, however this has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.A complete statement can be found here. We hope that you will be able to support the conference, and Brazlian Biomechanics, when we have new date scheduled for this important event.

Muscle Physiology Symposium

The Applied Neuromechanics Research Group from the Federal University of Pampa is promoting the Muscle Physiology Symposium. The event will take place at the Federal University of Pampa in Uruguaiana on April 24-25. Prof. Walter Herzog will be one of the invited speakers. The program will also consider talks of two Brazilian professors, Heiliane Fontana and Marco Vaz. The symposium has free registration and support of the Brazilian Physiology Society and Federal University of Pampa. To learn more about the event visit https://sites.unipampa.edu.br/gnap/muscle-physiology-symposium/

XI Applied Neuromechanics Symposium

The annual event that combines topics of biomechanics, motor control, physiology and neurosciences will have the edition 11 in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, next 10-12 September 2020. The website was recently launched and the full program is about to be shared. For more information: https://sites.google.com/view/xisna

Chile

Hackathon, transforming data for a better understanding of the human movement

The Chilean Association of Movement Sciences (ACCM) together with the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE) carried out a joint activity called "Hackathon, Transforming data for a better understanding of the human movement" during the past 2019. This consisted of a series of 5 theoretical-practical sessions of relevant topics to the study of the human movement. Participants visualized central and basic theoretical aspects of different topics, and subsequently worked with data series, processing data and obtaining the results. The data analysis was carried out in 3 languages ​​as appropriate, "R", "Python" and "Matlab", so that the participants had a direct approximation with the analysis techniques, losing the "fear" to code and carrying home a precise and bounded tool. The topics covered were the following: Basic topics of signal processing, COM Processing and Acceleration Analysis for the study of static and dynamic Balance, Machine learning for the identification of movement patterns, Biomarkers of motor control using EEG and Regression Models for the analysis of motor behavior. In addition, a sixth final session was scheduled for the month of October with the International guest Professor Dr. Luis Mochizuki, from Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, to gather around the theme of "Advanced tool for the study of motor behavior". Unfortunately, due to the political-social contingency that we are living in Chile and people may have heard about in the news, we had to suspend this last activity, hoping to promote it during the present year 2020.

Colombia

Biomechanics community from Cali invites all to the VII Seminario Internacional de Actualización Biomédica that will happen in Cali on November 28-30, 2020. This event is organized by the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente and other collaboration institution with the purpose to show to the university community the importance of biomedical engineering and its applications in the context of health and engineering. The event also wants to promote national and international cooperation in the different areas related to biomedical engineering.

Costa Rica

Biomechanics is expanding the possibilities of integration of researchers in Latin America, and a new edition of the Latin American meeting is expected to happen next October 14-16, 2020 in Costa Rica. The organization of the meeting includes a number of ISB members that participated in the EDC grant competition during the last ISB congress in Calgary, and there is a strong expectative of the establishment of a new biomechanics society that could bring together countries from Central America. A highlight of the meeting will be the presence of the ISB President, prof. Toni Arndt.

More info will come soon about this congress. 

ISB Affiliate Society Announcements

Note: Many events described below are published as presently stands, however may be postposed or cancelled in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

American Society of Biomechanics

ASB2020: Atlanta, GA, USA

Please join us at the 44^th annual American Society of Biomechanics conference hosted in the city that the Georgia Institute of Technology calls home, Atlanta, GA, USA (explore 360° map°). The meeting will be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza and Atlanta Convention Center on August 4-7, 2020. Details can be found on the meeting website (www.asb2020.gatech.edu, Twitter: @ASB2020_ATL). The conference banquet will be held in the amazing Ocean’s Ballroom of the world famous Georgia Aquarium. You will also be within easy walking distance to CNN world headquarters, World of Coke museum, College Football Hall of Fame, and the National Center for Civil & Human Rights.

Abstract deadline: March 13, 2020

Registration opens: April 1, 2020

Australian and New Zealand Society of Biomechanics

The 12th Australasian Biomechanics Conference (ABC12) will be held in Adelaide, Australia, this December (6-8) 2020. ABC12 is the official conference for the Australian and New Zealand Society of Biomechanics (https://www.anzsb.asn.au/). The conference will be jointly hosted by The University of Adelaide and Flinders University (conference co-chairs: Egon Perilli, Dominic Thewlis, Saulo Martelli and Mark Taylor). This biennial conference showcases the best biomechanics research from investigators at all stages of their career from across Australia and New Zealand. We’re excited to announce two outstanding keynote speakers: Prof Stephen Boyd (Univ. of Calgary, Canada) and Prof Silvia Blemker (Univ. of Virginia, USA). We welcome guests from around the world to submit their work and to attend. Awards will be made available and the program includes workshops, conference dinner and student networking event. More information on the conference, including abstract submission and registration can be found on the conference website (https://abc12.dryfta.com/). See you in Adelaide for ABC12!

Polish Society of Biomechanics

The Polish Society of Biomechanics and the Medical University of Warsaw are pleased to invite you to participate in upcoming International Conference of Polish Society of Biomechanics –  BIOMECHANICS 2020.

It will be held at Medical University of Warsaw, between 9 and 11 September 2020 and it is organized by Department of Rehabilitation of Faculty of Medical Sciences.

The International Conference BIOMECHANICS is the largest forum organized in Poland dedicated to the field of biomechanics. This conference will offer the opportunities to present your research and to share attendees own experiences, scientific ideas, and develop networks between young scientists from around the world. Since 2003, this conference has an international character and is organized once every two years. Then it gathers representatives of various fields – engineers, doctors, physiotherapists, as well as specialists in the field of physical culture and sport.

The BIOMECHANICS 2020 conference will address the themes such as: Clinical and Rehabilitation Biomechanics, Human Movement, Injury Biomechanics, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics and Modelling, Neuro-biomechanics, Soft and Hard Tissue Biomechanics, Spine Biomechanics, Sports Biomechanics.

Opening abstract and paper submission and registration: December 2nd, 2019.

More informations you can find on our website www.biomechanics2020.wum.edu.pl

ISB members will receive a 20% reduction on registration fees.

ISB Technical and Working Groups

Note: Many events described below are published as presently stands, however may be postposed or cancelled in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Motor Control Group

We are pleased to announce the upcoming symposia of the ISB Technical Group in Motor Control in 2020.  The symposia will feature internationally renowned speakers presenting their work at the intersection of Motor Control and Biomechanics.

Who Should Attend: Researchers and students with an interest in Biomechanics and Motor Control should attend. Participants will have the opportunity to discover the latest developments in these fields and discuss with experienced investigators.

Support: The symposia are kindly supported by the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) and by the De Luca Foundation.

For additional details, see http://www.mcg.isbweb.org/ or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We look forward to seeing you at these events!

Symposium on Motor Control in Biomechanics at ACSM 2020 (see flyer)

When: May 26^th 2020

Where: ACSM 2020 Annual Meeting, San Francisco (USA)

Registration and Fee: Attendance is free for all ACSM attendees. If you would like to attend, please register here.

Title: Control of Movement in Aging and Exercise

Invited Speakers:

• Marc Hamilton (University of Houston, USA)
• Brad Manor (Harvard Medical School, USA)
• Tanvi Bhatt (The University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)
• Jason Franz (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
• Matt Stock (University of Central Florida, USA)

ISB-Sponsored Student Award: One travel award will be offered by the International Society of Biomechanics to support student participation in the Motor Control Group Symposium at ACSM 2020. The award consist of an amount of US $ 500, and the opportunity to present at the symposium. Application deadline is April 30^th 2020. Please apply here.

Symposium on Motor Control in Biomechanics at i-FAB 2020

This event has been postponed to a later date (see https://www.i-fab2020.com/ )

Where: International Foot & Ankle Biomechanics Meeting, São Paulo (Brazil)

Registration and Fee: Attendance is free for all i-FAB attendees. If you would like to attend, please register here.

Invited Speakers: For final schedule, please visit our website at http://www.mcg.isbweb.org/upcoming-symposia.html

Symposium on Applied Neuromechanics - SNA 2020

Intersection of Biomechanics and Motor Control

When: September 10^th-12^th 2020

Where: XI Symposium on Applied Neuromechanics, Belo Horizonte (Brazil)

Registration and Fee: If you would like to attend, please register here.

Invited Speakers: Please visit our website for updates in the coming weeks at http://www.mcg.isbweb.org/upcoming-symposia.html

3-D Analysis of Human Movement

The XVI International Symposium on 3-D Analysis of Human Movement (3D-AHM 2020; https://register.extension.iastate.edu/movement) on July 12-15, 2020 at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA. The symposium features many world renowned scientists and scholars in the field of human movement technology and analysis as invited keynote speakers, including Dr. Kenton Kaufman from the Mayo Clinic as the symposium’s Herman J Woltring Memorial Lecturer. Symposium registration is open, https://registration.extension.iastate.edu/emc00/PublicSignIn.aspx?&SessionID=ej0fgpfclfd2fdpeimfc0&Lang=*. We encourage you to register for the symposium soon to take advantage of early bird registration, available until May 1st.

Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics (CNB) working group

Announcing the Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics (CNB) Interim Board and upcoming Workshop at ASB2020!

This past year marked an important accomplishment for the Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics Group as we were recognized as an ‘official’ working group of the ISB during the 2019 ISB/ASB Congress in Calgary, Canada. We are honoured and excited about this affiliation, and thank the ISB Executive Council for their support. Our group’s primary goals are to (1) increase the visibility of comparative biomechanics and neuromechanics and (2) accelerate the interaction between the comparative and human focused fields.

At the 2019 ISB/ASB meeting, the CNB’s interim Board was structured.  The interim Board members are listed below.  Board member elections will be held prior to ISB 2021:

• Jonas Rubenson, Penn State, USA (Chair)
• Monica Daley, UC Irvine, USA (Diversity & Inclusion Officer and Meeting Chair CNB@ASB2020)
• Gregory Sawicki, Georgia Tech, USA (Member at Large and Meeting Organizing CNB@ASB2020)
• Madhusudhan Venkadesan, Yale, USA (Secretary General)
• Craig McGowan, University of Idaho, USA (Treasurer and Fundraising Officer)
• Manoj Srinivasan, Ohio State University, USA (Membership Officer)
• Taylor Dick, University of Queensland, Australia (Communications Officer)
• Suzanne Cox, Penn State, USA (Postdoc & Student Affairs Officer)

Please feel free to contact any board member with CNB-related questions and follow us on Twitter @CNBiomechanics for important updates.

Also, CNB is excited to announce the workshop ‘Integrative Muscle Modelling for Neuromechanics’ to be held as a one-day satellite workshop on Monday, August 3, 2020, at the 2020 meeting of the American Society for Biomechanics, in Atlanta, GA, USA. The workshop will be a small, interactive single-track session of 50-75 participants. We aim to bring together scientists from clinical, biological and engineering backgrounds with shared interest in developing and using muscle models and validating models against experimental data. The activities of the workshop will include invited and contributed talks, demonstrations. Through interactive discussions we will develop plans for future CNB-led activities to facilitate open sharing of curated muscle datasets, models and simulation tools. Further details and an open call for participants will be available soon at the CNB website: https://sites.psu.edu/cnbgroup/. Join the CNB email list to receive announcements about this and other upcoming activities.

We look forward to seeing many of you in 2020! 

A Word from our Sponsors - Vicon

The next generation of our market-leading IMU, Blue Trident is lightweight, easy to use, flexible and reliable. Our Dual-G sensor is capable of capturing up to 200g, pushing the boundaries of data fidelity. The improved, form-fitting sensor can capture the highest load activities and provide immediate real-time analysis in the field. It also benefits from being fully waterproof (IP68), making it suitable for all-weather capture, underwater treadmills and swimming.

Nexus 2.10, the latest update to Vicon’s Life Sciences software, seamlessly integrates with our Blue Trident IMU. Vicon is the only motion capture company to offer hard sync, via our Beacon hardware, allowing inertial data to be precisely aligned to the optical world. Connecting Blue Trident into Nexus is simple and fast using an intuitive workflow. Blue Trident includes Bluetooth 5 technology, providing a robust connection with great range. Also new in Nexus 2.10, we are proud to partner with Tobii Pro for direct and easy eye tracker integration.

The free Capture.U app allows biomechanists, researchers and users like coaches and sports teams to analyze human movement by providing easy access to real-time information from your Blue Trident sensor. The app includes four capture modes, offering a variety of ways to capture and analyze data. Capture to Sensor or Device, take advantage of the Real-Time Insight mode to review data overlaid on live video, and now access even more insights using our AR Visualization mode. Vicon is proud to be first to market with the implementation of Apple’s Augmented Reality Kit (ARKIT 3).