FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT 

 AND BIOMECHANICS

 

   

 

 

MEMBERS AND COLLABORATORS

 

Name

Category

E-mail

José G. Villa Vicente (Coord) CU Educación Física y Deportiva ULE jg.villa@unileon.es
Pilar Sánchez Collado CU Fisiología psanc@unileon.es

Juan García López

CU Educación Física y Deportiva ULE

juan.garcía@unileon.es

Juan Carlos Morante Rábago

TU Educación Física y Deportiva ULE

jc.morante@unileon.es

José Antonio Rodríguez Marroyo

TU Educación Física y Deportiva ULE

j.marroyo@unileon.es

Jesús Angel Seco Calvo

TU Fisioterapia ULE

jesus.seco@unileon.es

David Suárez Iglesias

Ayte Doctor Educación Física y Deportiva ULE

dsuai@unileon.es

OBJECTIVES

1. To monitor and quantify the intensity of effort, assessing fatigue and exercise-induced muscle damage, and assess health-related physical fitness, as well as physical fitness for training and sports performance

2. To analyze biomechanical and ergonomic aspects of work and exercise performance

3. To design software, apply new technologies and analyze the technical and tactical elements of training and athletic performance

ACTIVITIES

Sport and Exercise Medicine specialists, Physical Activity and Sport Science graduates, and physiotherapists are involved in this unit. From its inception, there have been close collaborations with PhD Programs, postgraduate courses, as well as research projects of national interest (Plan Nacional de I+D+I, Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias), regional (Junta de Castilla y León) and provincial (Diputación de León, Universidad de León), and research contracts with multinational pharmaceutical companies, state-owned companies, national companies, societies, clubs, sports entities, associations,…

Unit members collaborate with other research groups from University of Valladolid, University of Alcalá and University of the Balearic Islands in the context of both a preventive and therapeutic biomedical assessment of muscle damage and fatigue induced by the practice of sport and physical activity as well as diseases or injuries. They also participate with the University of Zaragoza, Polytechnic University of Madrid, and University of Castile–La Mancha in research studies that examined the relationship between physical activity and health in different population groups (children, adults and elderly), or with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (USA) in order to quantify training load and ratings of perceived exertion. Other members maintain collaboration in a clinical or hospital setting for functional assessment of new techniques and physiotherapy methods to improve health-related quality of life in people with chronic conditions and disabilities.

 

Within the multidisciplinary field, they share common ground with the assessment of the relationship between Sport and Physical Activity and Health through a multiple-perspective approach, regarding methodologies that has been used, applied or designed. Its lines of research are obtaining interesting results by responding to the demands raised by the various multidisciplinary companies that have signed research contracts (clubs or sports companies; mutual insurance companies, …), besides obtaining patents and properties registered in the Land Registry. The unit is also contributing extensively to disseminate information through publication and participation in numerous books and important biomedical manuals and journals. The lines of research are:

  • Functional assessment of training and sports performance.

  • Functional assessment of physical fitness in relation to health and quality of life.

  • Determination of energy expenditure (field and laboratory testing) of sport and job activities, and the effectiveness of exercise programs.

  • Sport and Exercise Medicine and Occupational Medicine.

  • Determination of body composition, assessment of nutritional status and ergogenic aids.

  • Design of tests, technical and tactical models and technological applications for monitoring biomechanical, physiological variables,... and supporting exercise and sport training and formation for trainers.

  • Biomechanical analysis of human factors and ergonomics and sports performance.

  • Physiotherapy assessment of damage and dysfunction related to both training and sports performance and ergonomic, occupational and clinical enhancement.

METHODOLOGY

TYPES OF STUDIES

  • Standardized and validated exercise stress tests and physical fitness tests that evaluate the relationship among physical activity, health and quality of life.

  • Descriptive study of physical effort or exercise performed in a laboratory or its natural setting by monitoring physiological and biomechanical variables and management of clinical, biochemical, physical indicators,...

  • Design and innovation of technological applications that analyze problems of different nature: physiological or pathological, sports and exercise-related or work-related; disability or dysfunction,...

METHODS

  • Determination of the physical work capacity (VO2max).

  • Identification of the ventilatory thresholds (aerobic and anaerobic).

  • Determination of lactic acid and other plasma biochemical markers of physical fitness, fatigue and injury.

  • Determination of the energy cost and daily continuous monitoring of intensity of effort.

  • Assessment of nutritional status, dietary supplements and ergogenic aids.

  • Body composition analysis.

  • Identification of limits of performance and exercise capacity and physical work

  • Assessment tests of physical fitness in relation to health and quality of life.

  • Measurement of displacement with a dual beam photocell system.

  • Studies with oscillometric devices (force platforms).

  • Studies of anglemetry, goniometry and torquimetry by computer systems.

  • Gait and Movement Analysis by computer graphics systems and 3D systems.

  • Design methodology and validation of application specific software in the field of sports training.

TECHNOLOGICAL OFFER

1. Exercise stress tests with expired gas analysis and electrocardiogram monitoring and blood pressure in different types of ergometers, indirect calorimetry, spirometry, body composition analysis, lactacidemy, analysis of workload and energy expenditure using accelerometry and heart rate monitoring, determination of energy expenditure and nutritional assessment, heart rate variability.

2. Biomechanical analysis of bycicle pedalling and running. Biomechanical analysis of other activities (human gait,...).

3. Design and development of software and specific technological innovations in the field of physical activity and sport.

 

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Rearfoot striking runners are more economical than midfoot strikers. Ogueta-Alday A, Rodríguez-Marroyo JA, García-López J. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise: 46, 580-585, 2014.

  • A long-term physical activity training program increases strength and flexibility, and improves balance in older adults. Seco J, Abecia LC, Echevarría E, Barbero I, Torres-Unda J, Rodriguez V, Calvo JI. Rehabilitation Nursing: 38, 37-47, 2013.

  • Sitting time increases the overweight and obesity risk independently of walking time in elderly people from Spain. Gómez-Cabello A, Pedrero-Chamizo R, Olivares PR, Hernández-Perera R, Rodríguez-Marroyo JA, Mata E, et al. Maturitas: 7, 337-343, 2012.

  • Harmonization process and reliability assessment of anthropometric measurements in the elderly EXERNET multi-centre study. Gómez-Cabello A, Vicente-Rodríguez G, Albers U, Mata E, Rodriguez-Marroyo JA, Olivares PR, et al. PLoS One: 7(7): e41752, 2012.

  • The prognostic value of catastrophizing for predicting the clinical evolution of low back pain patients: a study in routine clinical practice within the Spanish National Health Service. Kovacs FM, Seco J, Royuela A, Corcoll-Reixach J, Peña-Arrebola A, Spanish Back Pain Research Network. Spine Journal: 12, 545-555, 2012.

  • Prevalence of overweight and obesity in non-institutionalized people aged 65 or over from Spain: the elderly EXERNET multi-centre study. Gómez-Cabello A, Pedrero-Chamizo R, Olivares PR, Luzardo L, Juez-Bengoechea A, Mata E, et al. Obesity Reviews: 12, 583-592, 2011.

  • Physical and thermal strain of firefighters according to the firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Rodríguez-Marroyo JA, Villa JG, López-Satue J, Pernía R, Carballo B, García-López J, et al. Ergonomics: 54, 1101-1108, 2011.

CONTACT