Annual Report 2016 - uibk.ac.at · Annual Report 2016 . Research group Neurophysiology, Institute for Sport Science, University of Innsbruck Annual Report 2015 2 ... Thomas Haid,

Research group Neurophysiology, Institute for Sport Science, University of Innsbruck Annual Report 2015

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Annual Report 2016


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Group members

Dr. Peter Federolf (Univ. Prof.) Dr. Inge Werner (Associate Prof.), Dr. Aude-Clémence Doix (Postdoc), Thomas Haid (ph.d. student), Arunee Promsri (ph.d. student), Alessia Longo (visiting ph.d. student) Toni Leidl (Student Assistant), Sebastian Färber (Master student), Julia Hagenauer (Master student), Nicolai Szelenczy (Master student), Felix Wachholz (Student Assistant, Master student), Carina Zöhrer (Diplom student) Associates at other Universities: Conor Bolger (ph.d. student at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim,

Norway. Co-supervised by Oyvind Sandbakk and Gertjan Ettema); Ola Eriksrud (ph.d. student at Norwegian School of Sport Science (NIH), Oslo, Norway. Co-supervised

by Jan Cabri) Visiting researchers: Benno Nigg, Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. mult., University of Calgary, Canada Kathleen Pantano, Associate Professor, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Mauricio Nunez Jr., Lecturer and ph.d. student, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, USA

visited our group from July 11th to 24th August, 2016

Alessia Longo, Ph.D. student at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in

Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Alessia joined our group on Nov 29th 2016 and will stay for 5

months. Alessia’s stay with us is funded by the European Union HEALTHPAC project,

European Call FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN, Innovative Doctoral Programmes (IDP).

Narrative

One of the nicest developments in 2016 is the increasing interest in our group’s research and the

interest to collaborate or directly work with us. Arunee Promsri, a graduate researcher holding a

scholarship from the Staff Development Program of the University of Phayao Thailand, joined us in

February to conduct her ph.d. research in our group. In July and August we were visited by Mauricio

Nunez Jr., a lecturer and ph.d. student at the Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, USA. And in

November, Alessia Longo, a Ph.D. student at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and

Behaviour in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, joined us for a period of 5-6 months to conduct part of her

data analysis with us. We are also collaborating with groups in Norway, the US, Italy and other


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countries. Further highlights in 2016 were the presentations by members of our group. In January,

Peter Federolf gave his inaugural lecture at our department, Clémence Doix, Thomas Haid, Arunee

Promsri and Inge Werner presented their research at the Institute Research Seminar, and Thomas

Haid presented his research at the European Congress of Sport Science ECSS in Vienna.

In teaching we have created several new courses – on the one hand to represent neurophysiological

topics more in our Institute’s teaching program, on the other hand, we have also developed courses

for data analysis techniques and skills in software tools like Matlab™. We are striving to improve our

teaching program to prepare the students well for their own research and to improve the skills that

might be attractive for future employers.

In research we are still focusing on principle component analysis (PCA) as a tool for analyzing human

motion. Specifically, we use PCA as a tool for defining a coordinate system in posture space – a high-

dimensional vector space that contains all information about a volunteer’s posture. By reformulating

Newton’s mechanics within this posture space we can not only characterize the volunteer’s posture

as a function of time, but also determine postural velocity and postural acceleration. The latter is

particularly interesting, since accelerations are caused by forces – and in case of postural

accelerations this typically means muscle forces (possibly in combination with gravity or external

perturbations). Thus, this formalism creates a direct link between the domain of biomechanics

(posture, velocity, acceleration, forces) and neurophysiology / motor control (forces produced by the

neuromuscular system). We believe that this new approach will be suitable for solving a number of

unanswered questions in postural and movement control.

Current Projects

Changes in postural control with advancing age [Thomas Haid,

Peter Federolf]

While frailty and falls become a serious problem at very high age,

it has proven difficult to detect ageing effects on postural control

in the so called “golden agers”, i.e. individuals in the age range of

50-70. In the current study we developed variables to quantify

the coordinative structure and the neuromuscular control of

postural movement components and tested for age and gender

effects in a group of 24 young (20-30) and 24 older (55-70)

subjects who performed a tandem stance. We observed both,

age and gender effects, but only in specific movement

components. There were no interaction effects. Our results help

in the understanding in how aging affects postural control.


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What makes the dominant leg the dominant leg? [Arunee Promsri, Thomas Haid, Peter Federolf]

A difference in the preference and performance between

left and right leg is observed in many individuals when

executing specific one-sided tasks such as kicking a ball or

standing on one leg. However, most studies analyzing

differences in the movement or in how the movement is

controlled, are not able to identify differences between

the dominant and non-dominant leg. – Hence, better

performance on the dominant leg suggests better control,

yet we don’t seem to know what exactly is different in the

control of movements between dominant and non-

dominant leg. In the current study we investigated

differences in the movement coordination and the control

of the movement by quantifying the frequency and

regularity of neuromuscular interventions between one-

leg standing on the dominant and non-dominant leg. We

did not observe differences in the coordination structure;

however, we found differences in the frequency and

regularity of neuromuscular interventions of specific

movement components. A better understanding of what

constitutes leg dominance on a neuro-muscular level has

applications in physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

How do gait patterns change due to additional cognitive or motor control tasks while walking?

[Felix Wachholz, Clémence Doix Thomas Haid, Peter Federolf]

Multitasking between motor control and cognitive tasks is

an every-day task for the neurophysiological system.

Specific examples are balancing a full cup of coffee or

texting a short message while walking. In this study we

combine motion tracking and electroencephalographic

measurements to simultaneously study dual tasking

effects on the movement, its control, and on the

electrophysiological brain activity. We hope to develop a

more comprehensive understanding on how the CNS

organizes multi-tasking and how multi-tasking affects the

control of movement.


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Effects of pacing strategies on cross-over muscle activation. [Clémence Doix, Felix Wachholz,

Natalie Marterer, Lorenz Immler, Kathrin Insam, Peter Federolf]

It is a widely observed phenomenon that unilateral

muscle contraction causes an involuntary activation

of the contralateral homologous muscle group.

Neural interconnectivity on the spinal and the

cortical level are believed to cause this crossover

effect. In this study we investigated if pacing

strategies unconsciously adopted during a prolonged

maximum effort contraction may affect the

crossover muscle activation. Our results show that

the contralateral muscle activation continuously

increases over time, independent of the pacing

strategy observed in the actively activated muscle.

Cross-over effect of unilateral lower-limb muscle

fatigue: time-course of the brain electrical activity

and effect on balance. [Clémence Doix, Felix

Wachholz, Peter Federolf]

A unilateral fatiguing exercise can reduce the force

production also in the homologous muscle of the

contralateral limb. Central factors are thought to be

primary candidate mechanisms for this

phenomenon. The goals for this project are twofold. First, we investigate the time course of changes

in brain electrical activity during and after a unilateral fatiguing exercise to better understand the

neural mechanisms of this cross-over effect. Second, we investigate whether this unilateral fatiguing

exercise has functional consequences by examining potential impacts on unipedal balance.

Effectiveness of coordinative fitness training on the motion and brain activity of children [Julia

Hagenauer, Felix Wachholz, Peter Federolf]

Bi-rhythmical coordinative exercises, i.e. exercises where the left and right limb are performing

similar movements but with different rhythms, provide particularly challenging tasks for the motor

control and central nervous system. It has been speculated, that these exercises lead to better

neural connectivity and may support neurogenesis. The aim of this study is to investigate

adaptations after a four-week coordinative fitness training (Kort.X) in brain activity and postural

control motions in comparison to a control group who do not specifically train coordination

exercises.


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Could voluntary activation of hamstring muscles serve as a protective mechanism to prevent ACL

injuries during landing after a jump in alpine skiing? [Sebastian Färber, Peter Federolf]

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are one of the most common injuries in alpine skiing. One

injury mechanism is a back-weighted landing after a jump. It has been suggested that in this

situation, activated hamstring muscles may provide some protection against an ACL sprain.

However, it remains unclear, if within the flow of the movement it is possible to consciously activate

the hamstring muscles. This project has two goals. First, we investigate the natural variability in the

activation of the muscle groups that cross the knee joint during the flight phase and the landing

(neutrally-weighted) in alpine-skiing jumps. Second, we investigate if the activation of hamstring

muscles can be voluntarily increased.

Technique analysis in weightlifting [Nicolai Szelenczy, Inge Werner, Peter Federolf]

The clean in Olympic weightlifting is a highly technical movement and an exact execution of the

movement pattern is important for the success of a trial. In his Master project, Nicolai Szelenczy is

comparing how the movement of the clean is executed when lifting a barbell with a mass of 60, 85,

or 95% of the athlete’s maximum. Furthermore, we have selected this project to compare two data

analysis techniques, both based on PCA.


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The beneficial role of movement variability in repetitive tasks [Alessia Longo, Peter Federolf, et al.]

Repetitive movements and static postures are the main cause of work-related musculoskeletal

disorders (MSDs). Biomechanical variation in sustained task performances may help decreasing the

risk of developing MSDs. The goal of this project is to investigate differences in variability during a

repetitive bimanual task, between a MSDs and a no-

MSDs group, by applying PCA to the upper–body

kinematic data. [PhD project of Alessia Longo, part of

the HealthPAC project founded by the EU Marie-Curie

fellowship. Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and

Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen]

The influence of cognitive load on a bimanual

repetitive task [Alessia Longo, Peter Federolf, et al.]

Manual motor tasks in our daily life often present a mix

of cognitive and physical demands. However, the effect

of a stressful/cognitive task on the motor control of the

upper-body is poorly understood. The aim of this project

is to investigate how a cognitive load influences motor

variability in a repetitive bimanual task, in terms of

principal components of upper-body kinematic data. [PhD project of Alessia Longo, part of the

HealthPAC project founded by the EU Marie-Curie fellowship. Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition

and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen]


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Research Funding

Arunee Promsri holds a scholarship awarded by the Staff Development Program of the University of

Phayao, Phayao, Thailand.

Aude-Clémence Doix received a grant from the „Forschungsförderungsmitteln der

Nachwuchsförderung 2016 der Universität Innsbruck“, University of Innsbruck, Austria for a project

titled „Neuronale Cross-Over-Effekte bei einbeinigem Balancetraining“.

Alessia Longo, PhD. student at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen,

The Netherlands. Alessia joined our group on Nov 29th 2016 and will stay for 5 months. Alessia’s stay

with us is funded by the European Union HEALTHPAC project, European Call FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN,

Innovative Doctoral Programmes (IDP).

Research Output and Service to the Research Community

We published the following papers in peer-reviewed international scientific journals:

1 Gløersen Ø., Federolf P. (2016). Predicting missing marker trajectories in human motion data using marker intercorrelations. Plos One. 11 (3): e0152616.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152616

2 Bolger C., Sandbakk Ø., Ettema G., Federolf P. (2016) How hinge positioning in cross-country ski bindings affect skiing efficiency, kinematics and muscle coordination. Plos One. 11(5): e0153078.


3 Doix ACM, Roeleveld K, Garcia J, Tanant V, Lahaut P, Fournier-Mehouas M, Desnuelles C, Colson SS, Scconi S. (in press) Short-term neuromuscular electrical stimulation training of the tibialis anterior did not improve strength and motor function in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy patients. Accepted in American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

We presented our research at the following conferences and events:

Eriksrud O., Federolf P., Cabri J., (2016). Inter- and Intra-rater Reliability of the Hand Reach Star

Excursion Balance Test. World Congress on the Basic Science of Energy Balance of the American

College of Sports Medicine, Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts, May 31-June 4, 2016.

Abstract will be published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Volume 48:5 Supplement.

Haid T., Federolf, P. (2016). Age differences in postural control analyzed via a principal component

analysis of kinematic data. 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science ECSS, 6-9

July 2016, Vienna, Austria.

Federolf P. (2016) Wie analysiert man die menschliche Bewegung? Bergwinter 2016,

Universitätszentrums Obergurgl, University of Innsbruck, 24.03. - 27.03.2016 in Obergurgl, Tirol,

Austria.




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We served as on the editorial board for the following journals:

Current Issues in Sport Science (CISS) European Journal of Sport Science Sports Engineering

We served as reviewers for the following journals:

Applied Ergonomics BMJ Open Entropy Frontiers Human Neuroscience Gait and Posture IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering Journal of Applied Biomechanics Journal of Biomechanics Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology Motor Control Plos One Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports The Knee

We served as reviewers for the following funding agencies:

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)

We assumed organizational responsibilities at international scientific conferences:

International Conference on Science and Skiing (ICSS) 2016, St. Christoph, Austria: scientific

committee, session chair.

International Congress on Sports Science Research and Technology Support (icSPORTS) November 7-

9, 2016, Porto, Portugal. Member of the Program Committee/ Reviewers

European Colleague of Sports Science (ECSS) Conference July 6-9, 2016, Vienna, Austria: member of

the scientific committee, session chair (podium), session chair (mini oral presentation).

We were featured in the following media

Radio: https://soundcloud.com/uniinnsbruck/uni-konkret-mit-mathematik-zum-sportlichen-erfolg

TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRqoHcvcXfw

https://soundcloud.com/uniinnsbruck/uni-konkret-mit-mathematik-zum-sportlichen-erfolg

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


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Graduations from our group

We congratulate the following persons for successfully completing their studies and research

projects and for thus earning the following degrees:

Master of Science

Tobias Jäger graduated with a Master thesis titled “Could slackline training complement the FIFA 11+ stabilization program? – A comparison of balance and stability improvements due to slackline training and FIFA 11+ training exercises.”

Martin Winding graduated with a Master thesis titled:

“Hat ein zusätzliches Banancetraining beim Erlernen des Ollie im Skateboard einen Einfluss auf die Sturzhäufigkeit, das subjektive Sicherheitsgefühl oder den Lernerfolg?“

Julian Kiefer graduated with a Master thesis titled: “A Principal Component Analysis-based investigation of adaptations in balance movements after a four-week slackline training intervention”

Roman Rethwilm graduated with a Master thesis titled: “Kinematic based computation of vertical ground reaction forces and the force contribution of principal movement components”

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Annual Report 2016 - uibk.ac.at · Annual Report 2016 . Research group Neurophysiology, Institute for Sport Science, University of Innsbruck Annual Report 2015 2 ... Thomas Haid,