The multidisciplinarity of LAMH is one of its best assets. Vincent Denoël underlines this asset by mentioning a difficulty that he considers to be a “smart challenge for an engineer”. During 3D recordings, the infrared markers are placed on the skin. Yet their movements are not the exact tracing of the movements powering the bone segments they cover. For example, a considerable sliding of the skin on the shoulder blade and a much smaller sliding on the knee has been observed. « To resolve this kind of problem, it is necessary to have access to technological innovation for the markers and their positioning, but also to develop retiming algorithms, for the moment there are none which ensure a perfect correction », says Vincent Denoel.

Innovation

In its analysis of sports movement, the LAMH does not only aim for optimization of performance. In fact it is equally attentive to the prevention of injuries for which it later unites its techniques with other approaches such as isokinetism (see the article Football and isokinetism, a winning team). Between the lines is the question of condition limits, because, from a biomechanical point of view, there can sometimes be antinomy between performance and respect for the body. « In case of conflict, injury prevention must always take precedence, all the more so because an injured athlete sees his performance diminish », insists professor Croisier.

Sport is at the heart of the activity of LAMH. However –and here we come back to the cross-disciplinary nature of the project -, it is not the only driver. Here is an eloquent illustration of that. Collaboration has been forged between the Laboratory and the neurology department of the University Hospital of Liège in the context of Parkinson’s disease. Two questions among others are on the agenda. Firstly, is it possible to define one or several walking patterns typical of the illness? Secondly, is it possible to assess the value of certain treatments via biomechanical measurements?

In the same way, analysis of movement by means of optoelectronic techniques (3D) could have a role to play in orthopedics by means of a contribution to the design and modeling of prosthetics. But that is not all. By pushing the boat out further, LAMH is preparing to study the interactions between a person and a group of people with civil engineering structures such as footbridges in 2012. “The effects of a man walking or running on a structure or affecting it through vandalism are unknown. The resonance of the intrinsic movement of the structure and that of the pedestrians can have detrimental or tragic consequences. Let’s take the example of the Millenium Bridge, in London which due to unexpected lateral oscillation had to be closed from 2000 to 2002.” LAHM will very shortly install a small experimental footbridge. A bridge between two banks: biomechanics and civil engineering.