Prof. Sebastian Wolf: Computing Gait Biomechanics in Cerebral Palsy

Nanocatalysis Department Seminar
Friday, November 29, 2024, 4 PM
J. Heyrovský Institute, Seminar Room 108

Abstract
Understanding Gait in Cerebral Palsy (CP) may still be considered as the Holy Grail of Human Movement Analysis. The pathogenesis of CP leads to consequences on multiple levels, starting with motor disturbance at or after birth, leading to movement disorders, altered body stress and strain and in consequence altered body structure regarding bones as well as soft tissues. When determining gait deviations and its underlying biomechanics, both a structural and a functional understanding is necessary. Assessment of lower limb joint kinematics namely of hip, knee, and ankle along with measuring ground reaction forces for obtaining joint moments via inverse dynamics in these major joints have become golden standard in instrumented clinical gait analysis. However, precision and accuracy in determining respective joint centers and axes still remain limited and may be subject to systematic error especially in the presence of bony deformity. Next to traditional techniques for determining these joint parameters via palpation of external bony landmarks and simple regression techniques to deduce the internal body structure, functional calibration methods have become increasingly popular for determining hip and knee joint parameters. Recently, these methods have also been addressed to the foot and ankle. In the plenary talk these numerical recipes are briefly summarized before presenting results of these methods in clinical context.

Sebastian Wolf received a PhD degree in physics at Free University in Berlin and was post-Doc at Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Science in Heidelberg, Germany. He changed to Human Movement Analysis in 2001 at  the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Heidelberg University Hospitals. In 2018 he was awarded as extra-ordinary professor for Orthopedic Biomechanics. Sebastian Wolf is active in clinical motion analysis with continuing scientific interest in advancing knowledge on neurologic and orthopedic gait disorders and mobility related medical healthcare, specifically in prosthetics and orthotics.