University News & Events

Glasgow Caledonian University’s School of Engineering and Computing is to play a key role in pioneering research that could improve rehabilitation after stroke, speed up recovery from joint replacements and prevent falls in older people.

The £1.5 million project which was launched on March 8, will see engineers, scientists, designers and healthcare professionals from across the UK joining forces with members of the public to convert powerful biomechanical data into simple, computer-generated animations to help patients visualise how their bodies move.

The technology will enable healthcare professionals to communicate movement information that was previously only available in graph or table form, helping patients to improve their own mobility and prevent injury.

The system will also improve feedback of results and ultimately, help diagnose patients’ physical problems in complex conditions.

The four-year project, led by the University of Strathclyde, is being developed in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University, The Glasgow School of Art, University of Glasgow, Newcastle University, Southampton University, and the NHS in the West of Scotland.

The project is funded by the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme - a cross research council initiative in partnership with the UK Health Departments.

The team will use the new technology in a wide range of clinical areas including exercise plans for healthy older people, falls prevention, rehabilitation of total knee replacement patients, early mobilisation of acute stroke patients and enhanced ankle-foot orthoses in late stage stroke patients.

The team also intend to develop portable systems of motion capture and visualisation for use in health centres, the community and the patients own homes. This area of work will be lead by Dr Lynne Baillie of GCU, who said: “This research represents the future of rehabilitation, using computer technology to assist patients in recuperating at home where it is most convenient.”    

The system will be trialled with the NHS in the West of Scotland. The research team believes that the dynamic visualisation of movement data has the potential to make a step-change in the clinical usefulness of biomechanics, equivalent to that produced by other medical visualisation techniques such as x-rays, CT and MRI.