Drs. Jeka, Kiemel Help Everybody to Do the Locomomtion

After Dr. John Jeka gave his mother a tour of his lab at the School of Public Health, she had just one question for her son:

"Are you sure you guys are thinking properly?"

Dr. Jeka of the Kinesiology department says that he and his fellow researcher, Dr. Tim Kiemel get that reaction quite often. It’s because their studies focus on seemingly simple functions that we often take for granted—standing and walking.

But it’s not as simple as we may think. Dr. Jeka says that upright posture and locomotion require more than just our skeleton, muscles and the inner ear for balance. Our vision and the information sent from our muscles (touch) are also main players.

“Without the sensory modalities, you could at best, just crawl along on the floor,” he explained to the Healthy Turtle. Dr. Jeka says that research about walking is becoming increasingly important, as the baby-boom population ages and their senses aren’t quite as sharp as they used to be.

Others agree about the current relevance. CDC states that more than 90 percent of hip fractures are caused from falls, and that the risk of falls can be decreased through exercises that maintain and improve balance.

The National Science Foundation recently awarded Drs. Jeka and Kiemel a three-year grant to continue their studies into locomotion.

The team is using the grant to develop new ways to strengthen balance. One project already underway involves a screen mounted to a treadmill. As the subject walks, an “x” moves about the screen in front of a target to indicate the subject’s center of balance.

Another exercise puts moving white triangles on the screen, forcing the subject to make a conscious effort to maintain balance. Jeka hopes to see balance exercises such as these added at fitness centers in the future.

To learn more about Dr. Jeka’s laboratory, visit here. To read about the Healthy Turtle's experience as a subject in Dr. Jeka's research about standing, visit here.