Skeletal muscles are the actuators of human and animal movement. Contrasting traditional beliefs, recent results provided first evidence that muscles are not exclusively connected via tendons to bone, but are mechanically linked also to surrounding muscles. This challenges the concept of muscles as independent functional entities: are intermuscular connections a mere by-product of the musculoskeletal organization or are they functionally relevant? I propose to address this profound question with in vivo and in situ experiments in the rat. Biomechanical and neurophysiological approaches will be integrated to elucidate the complex interactions within and between the mechanical and the neural circuitries of the locomotor system. By studying transmission of forces between pairs of muscles at physiological lengths and relative positions in situ, the magnitude of the mechanical effects of muscle connectivity will be investigated (PROJECT 1). How mechanical properties of the immediate muscle vicinity affect its function during locomotion and whether this impinges on neural control is assessed by chronic recordings of in vivo muscle behavior for various modifications of the muscles surrounding connective tissues (PROJECT 2). Muscles are not solely the mechanical actuators of movement, but also a substrate of important sensory information. Measurements of responses from muscle afferents during controlled mechanical muscle conditions will serve to elucidate the sensory effects of mechanical linkages between muscles (PROJECT 3). Epimuscular myofascial force transmission is expected to be ubiquitous and functionally relevant. The various results will therefore have significant implications for research on human and animal movement in health and disease.

How do humans walk without falling? Stable gait requires control of the body’s center of mass in relation to its base of support. The goal is of course to limit, or recover, from small perturbations that occur during every step. Passive walkers may have some stability, but in real-life conditions active muscle control is paramount. Different muscles con-trolled by different parts of the central nervous system work to adapt the position of the base of support or to de-/accelerate the body center of mass. Building on my research on kinematic measures and neural correlates of gait stability, I here hypothesize that sever-al distinct phases of the gait cycle require active control. To test this I propose to 1. validate and progress phase-dependent mathematical measures of gait stability, and use these to establish phase-dependency of gait control. 2. identify movement strategies and their neural implementation used for gait stability via kinematic, electromyographic, and electro-encephalographic recordings; 3. detail cortical contributions in control of gait stability using transcranial magnetic stimulation. With this project I will be the first to study strategies, muscles, and cortical areas involved in control of gait stability in an integrated manner. I consider this integrated approach mandatory for unravelling the mechanisms underpinning control of stability in human walking.

Uit de Vijfde Landelijke Groeistudie is gebleken dat jonge kinderen nog steeds dikker worden. Overgewicht en obesitas nemen inmiddels schrikbarende waarden aan. Minder eten en meer bewegen zijn de simpele remedies, maar gedragsverandering is moeilijk te bewerkstellingen. Dit voorstel behelst de ontwikkeling van een eenvoudig vest waarmee de veranderende lichaamsdimensies van de scholier eenvoudig kunnen worden bepaald tijdens de lessen lichamelijke oefening. De docent krijgt op deze manier goede informatie over de puberteitstoestand van de scholier en kan op basis hiervan in het kader van het Athletic Skills model (AST) de oefenstof optimaal afstemmen op de scholier. Het is de opzet van dit kiemproject om een eerste demoversie te ontwikkelen in nauwe samenwerking tussen de Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen en het Amsterdam Fashion Institute, waarbij acceptatie en gebruiksgemak voorop staan. Daarna wordt gepoogd om met STW-gelden het product technisch verder te ontwikkelen.(140 woorden).

For us, walking forms a big challenge. At young age, we are unable to walk and crawl on all fours ? a form of quadrupedal gait. At late age, we sometimes return to a ?quad-rupedal gait?, with front limbs typically replaced by walking aids. Between those ex-tremes, we are able to walk with remarkable ease, and mostly without falling. How are we able to do so? Answering this question can have major impacts, as consequences of an unstable gait, i.e. falls, place a large socioeconomic burden on society, not to forget on the individual that falls. Looking at behavior, the required stability has at least three aspects, namely steady state-, proactive-, and reactive gait stability. During my PhD, I worked on meth-ods to quantify these aspects. In the here-proposed experiments, I hope to tackle how stable gait is achieved by looking at supraspinal neural structures that participate in the required motor control. I plan to do so using exciting new data analysis approaches in the field of high-density electro-encephalography. First, I will localize brain areas involved in maintaining steady-state gait stability. Second, I will examine the effects of attentional load on gait stability via a dual task paradigm and instructed attention towards gait. Third, I will assess which brain areas are (in which way) involved in the different aspects of gait stability, i.e. steady-state, proactive, and reactive gait stability, by applying (un)expected perturbations to gait. By performing these three studies in young adults, fall-prone, and ?normal? elderly, it is my hope that my fundamental results can be immediately translated to practically useful applications. These include the development of better gait stability measures, as well as a potential shift in fall prevention therapy from internal focus (i.e. monitoring ones own gait), to external focus (i.e. walking towards a building).

In de zwemsport is het onomstreden dat nauwsluitende kleding de snelheid verhoogt. Er zijn nieuwe technieken beschikbaar om de zwemkleding strak op het lichaam aan te meten door gebruik te maken van 3D scanning. Door de samenwerking tussen het zwemkledingbedrijf HUUB.LTD met de hogeschool van Amsterdam kunnen deze technieken verder worden ontwikkeld. De ene uitdaging is om met zo min mogelijk confectiematen een zo groot mogelijk deel van de zwemmende sporters van een passend kledingstuk te voorzien, de andere uitdaging is om voor de topatleten de zwemkleding nauwsluitend op maat te maken. Het is de opzet van dit kiemproject om deze technieken verder te ontwikkelen en goed in kaart te brengen wat al mogelijk is en wat nog moet worden onderzocht. Daarna wordt gepoogd om met STW-gelden het product technisch verder te ontwikkelen