AME - Biomechanics of Human Balance

This project seeks to understand the effects of repeated subconcussive head impacts on the dynamic balance control of young, healthy amateur athletes. Preliminary results indicate that such impacts do NOT negatively impact balance the way concussive impacts do, so this project has the potential to inform sports participation and return-to-play decision making. The research involves recruiting subjects who are participating in the Bengal Bouts program to visit the lab for a 30-minute data collection prior to the start of sparring for the season and then again for a second 30-minute data collection after the season ends. Researchers will be responsible for subject recruitment, data collection, and data analysis. Data collection involves subjects performing a series of balance tasks in the lab while wearing an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor to record linear accelerations and angular velocities. Data analysis consists of relatively basic statistical methods to determine if balance performance differs between the two time points of data collection. Tasks may also involve contributing to preparation of conference or journal papers reporting the findings.