Canada Research Chair in Biomechanical Movement Signature to Better Understand and Reduce Disability

Functional mobility relates to a person’s ability to perform everyday activities, such as standing, bending, walking and climbing. Numerous conditions and diseases can affect functional mobility and have an impact on quality of life. Personalized medicine leverages individual factors to enable earlier disease detection, tailor treatments, and minimize adverse events. While advances in engineering, biomechanics, and AI drive this shift, a key challenge remains: developing adaptable and reliable measurement systems for diverse environments, from clinics to home settings.

Mobility signature analysis holds great promise in this context as movement, shaped by sensory input and biomechanical constraints, provides unique, objective markers for personalization. Professor Karina Lebel, Canada Research Chair in Biomechanical Movement Signature to Better Understand and Reduce Disability, builds on this foundation by integrating sensory influences in movement signature analysis, with the goal of deepening our understanding of mobility deficits and improving rehabilitation outcomes across varied settings.

Specifically, this CRC program aims to:

1. Develop and validate measurement systems, algorithms and software for mobility signature assessment in labs, clinics and communities.
2. Optimize sensory feedback information process to enhance mobility deficit understanding and rehabilitation outcomes.

By enabling earlier, more precise assessments and individualized interventions across diverse environments and populations, this research program contributes to transform rehabilitation practices, improve patient outcomes, and foster a more accessible, inclusive, and efficient way to tackle challenges in healthcare.

• Canada Research Chairs Program
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council

Additional Information

• Tier 2 Chair - 2020-04-01
• Renewed: 2025-10-01