And the Oscar goes to..
a Cleveland Clinic research scientist?
That’s right. Antonie J. van den Bogert, Ph.D., with the Lerner Research Institute’s Biomedical Engineering Department, won an Academy Award earlier this year for his technical work in developing motion capture software, which is being used by top Hollywood producers to create three-dimensional animation based on human movements. His software helped to build some of the animated characters in blockbuster movies such as “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “I-Robot.”
So what does all of this have to do with health care? Plenty. Knee damage is the most common injury for high school, college and professional athletes. While advances in orthopedic surgery can repair knee injuries, most athletes who have had such injuries suffer osteoarthritis when they are only in their 30s or 40s (most people don’t get arthritis until their 70s).
What’s more, women athletes are five times more likely to injure their knees, but no one knows why. Dr. van den Bogert’s research aims to find the answer to that question and to determine whether new athletic techniques can be developed to help athletes reduce or prevent knee injuries.
Dr. van den Bogert recently brought in 10 men and 10 women college basketball athletes to record their common movements with special, high-speed cameras. The athletes wore tiny balls that acted as markers on their bodies, tracking their motions. The balls reflect light back to the camera, creating a three-dimensional, high contrast image. All of this information is then fed into the motion capture software.
“We created a computer model of each person and that computer model performs the same movements as the athlete,” says Dr. van den Bogert. “Because the computer model moves the same way that the athlete does, we can do hundreds of experiments on the computer model rather than on the person.” For example, by manipulating the computer model, researchers can find out what kind of knee stress is produced when the feet are placed in different positions.
“We think that these knee injuries occur in athletes not because they run and jump along, but because their movement is poorly controlled,” he says. “We’re hoping that our computer simulations will give us insights about improving the control of an athlete’s movements to see whether, in the future, we can reduce the propensity for injury.”
Dr. van den Bogert’s software also is being used to study foot and ankle injuries incurred on uneven surfaces, and in gait and posture rehabilitation.
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Female Athletes and ACL Injuries
This information is provided by the Cleveland Clinic and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. Please consult your health care provider for advice about a specific medical condition. This document was last reviewed on: 1/1/2006
