Seminar Description: It is well known that frequent or prolonged high knee flexion puts the knee at risk of musculoskeletal disorders, including knee osteoarthritis. What is yet unknown is how and why these issues arise. Dr. Acker will share her research aimed at understanding the fundamental function of the knee joint and identifying mechanical pathways to knee injury as a result of high flexion exposures.
Bio: Dr. Stacey Acker is an Associate Professor and NSERC funded researcher in Kinesiology and Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Using her training in Mechanical Engineering (Queen’s University) and Rehabilitation Science (McMaster University), her research focuses on exposures on the knee joint in both common and unique loading conditions in health and disease. Her research team aims to develop a thorough knowledge base for movement and loading of the knee joint during gait and demanding activities of daily living and to use this knowledge to inform knee joint contact force modeling. Special focus is placed on the added challenges of modeling the knee joint in deep flexion. Her research applications include developing potential links between high demand knee joint mechanics and osteoarthritis progression or initiation, and occupational task analysis.