Estimating Bone Loading During Physical Activity: Where Do We Go Next?
Hannah Rice, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway
Reconsidering Energy Sources and Destinations in Sport Activities
Alberto Minetti, University of Milan, Italy
Estimating Bone Loading During Physical Activity: Where Do We Go Next?
Hannah Rice
Norwegian School of Sport Sciences
Norway
Brief Bio
Hannah Rice is an Associate Professor in Biomechanics at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences where she is head of the biomechanics research group. Her research focus is on the biomechanics of lower limb overuse injuries, specifically musculoskeletal modelling of the tibia and metatarsals during human locomotion to better understand the risk of stress fractures. Her interdisciplinary research combines biomechanical data collection from human participants with medical imaging, musculoskeletal modelling, and finite element analysis techniques to address applied research questions.
Abstract
Bone stress injuries affect athletic populations who undertake activities in which bones are repeatedly loaded. In order to understand and reduce the risk of bone stress injuries, we need to quantify the loading experienced by the bones during activities such as running. Bone loading is difficult to quantify as the magnitudes of stress are influenced to a large extent by the magnitude of muscular forces acting on the bone. Musculoskeletal modelling, ranging from very simple to very complex approaches, can be used to estimate the internal loading experienced by the bone during human movement such as running. This has allowed us to explore factors such as speed, slope, step width and step length and their influence on bone loading during running. However, in order to truly understand risk of stress injuries this needs to be taken out of the lab and in-field. Today we have access to rapidly improving technology and data processing capabilities. Could this facilitate the estimation of bone loading in real time? This talk will consider the current limitations and challenges, and how might these be overcome in the future.
Reconsidering Energy Sources and Destinations in Sport Activities
Alberto Minetti
University of Milan
Italy
Brief Bio
Alberto E. Minetti is currently Professor of Physiology at the University of Milan, Italy. Graduated in Medicine (MD), he attended a Specialty Course in Biostatistics and worked for the National Research Council in Milan. After spending one year in Leeds University with Prof. Neill Alexander thanks to a Marie Curie Fellowship, he held a Chair in Biomechanics and Physiology of Exercise at the Manchester Metropolitan University, after which he returned back to Italy to replace retiring Prof. Giovanni Cavagna. Professor Minetti is author of more than a hundred indexed publication, hundreds of conferences papers and is author/co-author of many books. He acted as a referee, or associated editor, for more than 50 high reputation international journals, and was selected by the Italian Ministry of Education as an evaluator for carreer advancement of hundreds of Researchers and Associate Professors. The main scientific interest is the relationship between mechanics and energetics in human and animal movement and locomotion, addressed both by modellistic and experimental methods. IT and software programming have always been incorporated in his research. Alberto Minetti plays many instruments, mainly jazz piano.
Abstract
The speech will focus on 4 main topics, chosen as to stress the importance of a combined biomechanical and physiological approach, together with modern sensory technology, to highlight the relevant energy sources in sport movement and locomotion:
a) Downhill skiing is by definition an activity transforming the vertical body position (i.e. potential energy) into movement (e.g. speed, or kinetic energy). Which contraction type is mainly expected from our muscles?
b) Standing long jump dates since a few centuries BCE. Fifty years before being reissued in early XX century Olympics, British jumpers (over canals) used, similarly to ancient Greek Pentathletes, to swing dumbells before taking off. Some of them also throwed the loads backward-downward during midflight to achieve extra propulsion, as (indipendently) studied by rocket scientists of that time. What was the catch?
c) Among the components of internal mechanical work, the one due to body segments acceleration has been classically put into focus, though how this complements the external work is still under debate. Recent attention has been paid to internal frictonal work (dissipation), which naturally slows down passive and active oscillations of segments.
d) Why don’t we still have a reliable equation predicting the metabolic power of cycling? The internal mechanical work (kinematic and frictional) and muscle efficiency as a function of pedalling rate can help to fill the gap.
Bibliography
1. Minetti A. E. Concentric, isometric and eccentric contractions: which dominates alpine skiing?. Science and Skiing VII, E. Müller, J. Kröll, S. Lindinger, J. Pfusterschmied, J. Spörri, T. Stöggl Eds, Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK), pp 23-29, 2018.
2. Minetti A. E. and Ardigó L. 19th century jumpers reinvented halteres and extended Olympians' range by ante litteram rocket propulsion. Latin American Crosstalk in Biophysics and Physiology, Salto Grande, Uruguay 2015.
3. Minetti A. E., Moorhead A. and G. Pavei. Frictional internal work of damped limbs oscillation in human locomotion. Proc. R. Soc. B, http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1410 Suppl.Material, 2020.
4. Minetti, A. E. The role of negative external and positive internal mechanical work in human locomotion energetics. VIIth World Congress of Biomechanics, Boston, July 6-11th 2014.