Truman State University in Kirksville is nearly finished preparing a new movement lab, named for long-time staffer Doctor Fontaine C. Piper, who was program director for Health and Exercise Sciences and Dean of the Human Potential and Performance School.
The lab will be used to study the movement of the human body in 3 dimensions. One of the ways it will do that is through the use of 10 digital, high resolution cameras that can be repositioned as necessary. Those will videotape a person in motion rather like a replay on a television football program that looks at a play from different angles. Those will be combined with plates in the floor that sense the impact of a person’s footfalls.
The lab will study changes in the way a person moves, such as after a surgery or an injury. Chair of the Health and Exercise Sciences Department Chris Lantz says for example, a person who has had an ACL surgically reconstructed might change the gate of his or her walk.
He says it will also be a part of independent research by undergraduate students, working with faculty to study aspects of human movement that interest them.
The lab will be available to students throughout their undergraduate experience. It is expected to be functional in January.
Read more on the new lab here.