The MRC has a state of the art movement laboratory, the largest laboratory of its type in the southern hemisphere. The lab forms part of the NHMRC-funded Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Gait Analysis and Gait Rehabilitation (Gait CCRE).

The movement laboratory incorporates:

Current projects

The movement laboratory serves four MRC research groups: Gait, Balance and Falls, Knee Orthopaedics, Prosthetics and Orthotics and Foot and Ankle. Current projects in the lab include:

• Comparison of a prototype prosthetic ankle with three common feet in normal level surface walking

• Measurement of prosthetic ankle and kinematic features in amputee gait

• The effect of mediolateral foot placement on coronal plane gait characteristics in unilateral transfemoral amputees

• Gait, balance and falls risk in older people with knee osteoarthritis before and after knee replacement surgery

• The validity of clinical tests of lumbo-pelvic stability

• A clinical approach to falls risk assessment in Alzheimer's disease

• Biomechanics of the knee before and after high tibial osteotomy for osteoarthritis

• Recovery of hamstring muscle function following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

• Factors influencing locomotion in older adults

• Predicting the efficacy of foot orthoses in people with patello-femoral pain syndrome

• Factors associated with osteoarthrtis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint

• The biomechanic and neurophysiologic effect of tone-reducing ankle-foot orthoses on subjects with spasticity

• Power transfer analysis of human gait

• Development of an algorithm to predict type of activity from an instrumented transtibial prosthesis

How do I go about booking the lab?

All researchers using the lab must first consult the policy and procedure manual, and all projects conducted in the lab must first be approved by the movement laboratory manager, Jo Wittwer, who will advise you if and when the project has been approved. Please view the manual and download and complete the application form.