Society news
Meeting of the German Society for Biomechanics from Lutz Dürselen.
8th Biannual Meeting of the German Society of Biomechanics, 15.-17. May 2013 in Neu-Ulm
The German Society of Biomechanics has held its 8th biannual meeting from 15.-17. May 2013 in Neu-Ulm hosted by Lutz Dürselen and his team from the Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics, Ulm University. A total of 335 participants from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom attended the meeting. The scientific program comprised 95 podium presentations and 87 posters from a broad spectrum of basic, applied and clinical biomechanics. 15 sessions were held on gait analysis, tribology, bone, sports biomechanics, meniscus and ACL, osteoarthritis and cartilage, implants and fracture healing, muscle biomechanics, and free topics. To meet our young scientist’s needs the meeting was extended by a preceding workshop with lectures on project planning, statistics and movement analysis. As a highlight three excellent invited lectures were given on bone biomechanics on macro, micro and nano level by Lutz Claes, Ralph Müller, and Christian Hellmich. All abstracts can be downloaded at
http://www.biomechanik-kongress.de/fileadmin/media/2013/dgfb/DGfB2013_Abstractband.pdf
News from the ESB Italian Chapter
The Italian National Chapter has just closed its third Meeting, which was held in Pisa on September 25. The Meeting was divided in two parts: the General Assembly and a scientific session.
The General Assembly, attended by about twenty persons, was dedicated to the discussion of past activities and the planning of future tasks. In particular, the results of the ‘census’ of Chapter members were presented, which highlighted that the current profile of the Chapter is mostly academic and characterized by a mechanical/biomedical engineering background. Moreover, the Chapter is quite ‘young’, since the mean age is 41 yrs. For further information please refer to second issue of the Chapter newsletter Il Giornalino, http://www.esb-ita.it/newsletter.html. More importantly, during the Assembly, a new executive board was elected: Federica Boschetti (Politecnico di Milano), Michele Conti (Università di Pavia) President, Diego Gallo (Politecnico di Torino).
The second part of the Meeting, attended by about forty persons, was organized in collaboration with the Italian Society of Clinical Movement Analysis (SIAMOC) and included two keynote lectures: Prof. Kevin Deluzio (Queen’s University, Canada), “Can Biomechanical Analyses influence the treatment of knee osteoarthritis?” and Prof. Gabriele Dubini (Politecnico di Milano), “Numerical simulation of endovascular procedures: state of the art and perspectives”.
As many Italian researchers work abroad and can hardly attend the Meetings, another opportunity for getting together was organized during the ESB Conference in Patras: the first Italian Chapter Dinner. About thirty members enjoyed this nice event, which will be repeated in the next conferences.
News from the ESB Spanish Chapter
The Spanish National Chapter has just closed its third Meeting, which was held in Barcelona on October 24th and organized by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). The event took place at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) and hosted 60 people from research centres, hospitals and universities throughout Spain.
The meeting’s main mission was to put professionals and researchers in the field of biomechanics in touch, to enhance collaboration between universities, hospitals and companies and also to encourage dissemination and promotion of studies in this field throughout Spain.
“The highlights of the conference, which took place in a very friendly atmosphere, has been the scientific quality of the papers” said Jérôme Noailly, member of the organizing committee and researcher at IBEC, after the meeting. “We’re grateful for the participation of the business and hospital sectors, who shared their experiences with the researchers in a constructive way.”
Almost 50% of the meeting participants also took part in three courses given the day before, which were established with the intention of providing an overview of the techniques used for the development of a patient model form clinical data.
The papers “Explicit simulation of muscle activation in combination with intervertebral disc swelling reproduces in vivo intradiscal pressures in a L3-S1 lumbo-sacral spine model” presented by Themis Toumanidou in the Science category and “The role of both micro/nano-topography and Na+ ion to enhance osseointegration” presented by Marc Fernández Yagüe in the Technology Transfer and Clinics category were awarded for their excellence, content and presentation.
During the meeting, the election of the Chapter’s executive committee also took place, whose candidates were Sebastian Idelsohn, Javier Martínez Reina and Jérôme Noailly.
Special Book Offer exclusive to ESB Members
We are pleased to have secured this special offer for (members of The European Society of Biomechanics) – Measuring Walking, by Richard Baker. To obtain the book at a 15% discount and free shipping contact admin@mackeith.co.uk and quote offer code MEASURING13. Offer valid until 30th November 2013.
About the book:
This book is a practical guide to instrumented clinical gait analysis covering all aspects of routine service provision. It reinforces what is coming to be regarded as the conventional approach to clinical gait analysis. Data capture, processing and biomechanical interpretation are all described with an emphasis on ensuring high quality results. There are also chapters on how to set up and maintain clinical gait analysis services and laboratories.
The book aims to describe the theoretical basis of gait analysis in conceptual terms. It then builds on this to give practical advice on how to perform the full spectrum of tasks that comprise contemporary clinical gait analysis.
Readership
– Professionals from either a clinical or technical background working within clinical gait analysis services.
– The extensive sections on data capture and processing will also be invaluable for those using gait analysis for research purposes.
– Clinicians receiving gait analysis reports and particularly those who base clinical decisions upon gait analysis results (e.g. orthopaedic surgeons) will find it useful in understanding where the data comes from and how it can be interpreted.
– Physiotherapists
More details:
ISBN: 978-1-908316-66-0
Paperback
246 pages
April 2013
RRP £49.95 Member price: £42.00
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Basic Measurements
- The conventional gait model
- Alternatives to the conventional gait model
- Advanced Processing Techniques
- Electromyography
- Clinical Video
- Physical examination
- General Measures of walking quality
- Relationships between different data types
- Quality assurance
- Interpretation and reporting
- Accuracy and reliability
- How to set up a gait analysis service
How to set up and maintain a gait laboratory
