Welcome Dr. Boucher to The MOvES Lab!

The MOvES Lab would like to extend a warm welcome to Laura Boucher, PhD, AT, ATC, in her new role as Associate Lab Director! Dr. Boucher was hired as an Assistant Professor-Clinical in in 2014, with a teaching focus in musculoskeletal and orthopedic anatomy. Her research focuses on our improving anatomical and biomechanical understanding to reduce risk of injury in car crashes and sports.

Dr. Boucher completed her undergraduate studies at Ohio University with a BS in Athletic Training. She then earned her Master’s degree at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Exercise Science-Athletic Training, where she also served as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer. Her master’s thesis explored the effects of fatigue on core muscle activation during sporting tasks.

Following graduate school, she was hired at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio as an Assistant Athletic Trainer. After two years, she moved into a duel faculty/athletic training position, teaching and advising within the Health and Sport Sciences Department, while continuing to provide athletic training services to Capital University Athletics teams. Her teaching responsibilities spanned from health and nutrition classes, to motor learning and biomechanics, and upper and lower extremity physical exam courses. Dr. Boucher provided Athletic training services to a variety of teams while at Capital University, including Football, Volleyball, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field, and Women’s Basketball.

Her love of teaching and research continued to grow while working at Capital, which eventually led her to purse a PhD in Anatomy at The Ohio State University. She studied under the direction of Dr. John Bolte IV and completed her research in the Injury Biomechanics Research Center. Her work focused on evaluating pediatric ankle biomechanics, which led to the development a more biofidelic pediatric crash test dummy ankle and leg. Upon finishing her PhD, she was hired by The Ohio State University in the Division of Anatomy in 2014. In 2016 she joined the Athletic Training faculty. Her academic responsibilities include teaching gross anatomy in the Bone and Muscle Disorders Block for the first-year Medical students. She also teaches gross anatomy to the Physical and Occupational Therapy students and team teaches other courses to Biomedical Engineering and Athletic Training undergraduate students. She mentors and advises numerous students and serves as the Associate Block Director for the Bone and Muscles Disorders Block in the College of Medicine.

Dr. Boucher’s research continues to focus on pediatric injury biomechanics and more recently has started to explore the role of using musculoskeletal ultrasound in teaching physical exam skills, exploring how tissue responds to stress, as well as applications to aid in clinical decision making. We are excited to grow our faculty and add Dr. Boucher’s perspective to the MOvES lab.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Boucher2

Student Spotlight- Maria Talarico, MS

The MOvES Lab would like to extend a warm welcome to Maria Talarico, a new, but returning member of the lab!  Maria started in the MOvES Lab as a Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student during her junior year (2011) with a research focus on postural control stability and variability of athletes while completing the anterior reach task.  Upon completion of her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a Minor in Exercise Science at Ohio State in 2013, Maria continued her studies in biomechanics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University through the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.  While completing her M.S., Maria conducted research in the Matthew A. Gfellar Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center under the guidance of Dr. Jason Mihalik.  Her thesis concentrated on the effects of single leg squat performance, functional and postural control parameters, and visual reaction time performance under single- and dual-task paradigms.  In addition to research, Maria was a Teaching Assistant to undergraduate Biomedical Engineering students in quantitative human physiology, fundamental biomechanics and human kinetics, and biomedical instrumentation courses.  In September 2015, Maria started working at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD as a Post-Graduate Biomechanics Researcher.  Maria worked with a Biomechanics research team until July 2017 investigating physical and cognitive performance of Dismounted Soldiers during load carriage tasks and with physical augmentation devices in operationally-relevant situations.  After 2 years of working with the Army, Maria is very excited to return to Ohio State where she will apply her biomechanics expertise and research experiences as a member of the MOvES Lab while pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering.  Maria’s research interests include functional and cognitive performance in dual-task paradigms in healthy and concussed individuals, human movement patterns of specialized tasks in athletics and the military, and the neuromechanical effects pre- and post-injury.

2017 Denman Research Forum

Yesterday was a big day for the MOvES Lab, as we had eight of our lab members present at the 2017 Denman Forum. The Denman Forum provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to showcase their research, scholarship, and creative activities to the OSU community and beyond.  We are so proud of everyone’s great professionalism, support, enthusiasm and critical thinking. Congratulations, MOvES Lab!

A “Living Bandage” For Knee Injuries

Over one million people a year in the United States and Europe alone suffer from meniscal tears. Scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol have tested a “living bandage” comprised of stem cells to repair such injuries. The difficulty in treating this common sports knee injury is that more than 90% of tears occur in the meniscus’ “white zone” where there is a great lack of blood supply.

Azellon has designed the Cell Bandage which encourages cell growth of the meniscal tissue in order for the tear to repair itself. The prototype was trialed in five patients with white zone meniscal tears. Stem cells which were harvested in the patient’s bone marrow were grown for two weeks and then delivered into the site of injury. The Cell Bandage was then implanted into the middle of the meniscal tear, and cartilage was sewn around the bandage to secure it in place.

12 months post-op, all five patients had an intact meniscus. 24 months post-op, three of the five still had success and returned to normal knee function. The other two of the five had removal of the meniscus due to the return of symptoms or a new tear.

Chair of Stem Cell Biology at the University of Liverpool and Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Azellon, Anthony Hollander says, “The Cell Bandage trial results are very encouraging and offer a potential alternative to surgical removal that will repair the damaged tissue and restore full knee function. We are currently developing an enhanced version of the Cell Bandage using donor stem cells, which will reduce the cost of the procedure and remove the need for two operations.”

Professor Ashley Blom, Head of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Bristol commented: “The Cell Bandage offers an exciting potential new treatment option for surgeons that could particularly benefit younger patients and athletes by reducing the likelihood of early onset osteoarthritis after meniscectomy.”

 

Post Credit

Study Finds Girls Have Higher Risk of Overuse Injuries in High School Athletics

 

Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have found that female high school athletes have a much higher risk of overuse injuries than males of the same age. Overuse injuries include stress fractures, tendonitis, and joint pain. These injuries occur when athletes repeatedly perform the same motion. Overuse injuries account for half of all athletic injuries and are more prevalent in teens ages 13-17.

Dr. Thomas Best studied 3,000 male and female injury cases across a seven year period. The cases came from twenty high school sports which included lacrosse, gymnastics, soccer, and volleyball. He and his team found that girls track reported the highest rate of overuse injuries (3.82). Girls field hockey (2.93) and girls lacrosse (2.73) followed. Boys overuse injuries were most prominent in swimming and diving (1.3).

“These young people spend more time playing sports both in competition and in practice. So, there’s a correlation there between the amount of time that they’re playing and the increased incidence of injuries,” said Best.

According to Best, some high school athletes spend upwards of 18 hours a week participating in athletics. Many even participate in more than one sport at a time.

The lower leg is generally the most common site of overuse injuries. The knee and the shoulder follow next. Best recommends that teen athletes vary their movement. This can be accomplished by playing more than one sport. He also advises his patients to focus on rest and proper nutrition.

“During this point of their lives, this is when girls are developing bones at the greatest rate,” Best said. “It’s incredibly important that they’re getting the proper amounts of calcium and vitamin D.”

 

Post Credit

MOvES Lab Graduates!

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Congratulations to two excellent undergraduate research assistants, Kristen Looman and Olivia DiCarlantonio, for their recent graduation!  Kristen received her B.S. in Biology and will be working as an Anesthesia Technician at the Wexner Medical Center as she prepares for medical school.  Olivia graduated with a B.S. in Public Health and is pursuing a career in medical device sales.

Differences between Football Competition Levels in Rates and Patterns of Ankle Sprains

Rates and rate ratios of ankle sprains in youth, high school, and college football, 2012-2014 seasons. *Statistically significant. LLC = lateral ligament complex.

Rates and rate ratios of ankle sprains in youth, high school, and college football, 2012-2014 seasons. *Statistically significant. LLC = lateral ligament complex.

Dan Clifton, a member of the MOVES research laboratory and a doctoral student in the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences program at The Ohio State University, recently published a study examining epidemiological patterns of ankle sprains in youth, high school and college football players. The study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine, performed in collaboration with the Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention, Inc. and University of Virginia, compared rates and patterns of ankle sprains between all three competition levels. Results indicate that injury rates are greater among higher competition levels and that lateral ankle sprains are the most common type of sprain at all levels of participation. Additionally, college football has the greatest proportion of ankle sprains that are severe while youth football has the greatest proportion of ankle sprains that are recurrent. Differences between competition levels highlight the need for level-specific policies and prevention strategies to help reduce the incidence of ankle sprains across age groups.

MOvES Lab Researchers Find the Brain Needs to be Retrained After ACL Injury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itGlEmLaEx0

In a recent study published in the Journal of Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy, members from The Ohio State University MOvES research lab under the direction of Dr. James Onate and led by School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences doctoral student graduate Dr. Dustin Grooms, who is an assistant professor at Ohio University, found that brain activation for knee flexion-extension motion may be altered following ACL reconstruction (ACLR).  The study discusses results from 15 participants who had undergone ACLR and 15 matched healthy controls.  Functional MRI (fMRI) data were obtained for all participants during a knee motor task consisting of repeated cycles of knee flexion and extension.  Results indicate that the brain fundamentally changes how it processes information from an injured knee and how those with ACLR may rely more on visual systems than movement spatial awareness.

Since being published, this study has gained national media coverage.  Check out articles published on PsychCentral, Healthline News, Mass Device and watch news clips from KCNC-TV and KFVS-TV!

Testing Complete for the FPPE Project

overview

After 3 years of testing at high schools across the country, data collections for the FPPE Project have come to an end.  During this time, over 6,000 athletes completed functional testing consisting of an ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, a single leg anterior reach (SLAR), a single leg hop for distance (SLHOP), and a drop vertical jump landing evaluation (iLESS).  Results of this testing will provide clinicians with normative functional performance data as well as injury risk prediction capabilities of a functional pre-participation evaluation.