Second professorial lecture looks at the power of polymers

Nov 24, 2005

From bouncing breasts to noisy knees…it's just another day in the life of Professor Julie Steele - Head of the Biomechanics Research Laboratory at the University of Wollongong.

Professor Steele presented the latest 'Professorial Lecture' at UOW yesterday and spoke about developing textile biofeedback technology.

The Professorial Lecture Series started last month and each lunctime lecture is presented by academic staff members who have either been promoted to professorial level or are recent appointments to the University.

The lectures will run through to the end of 2006 and they will give academics the opportunity to discuss with other staff members across campus details of their particular research area and recent research successes.

“A perpetual challenge confronting practitioners when they are evaluating and modifying human motion is to monitor characteristics of human performance in the field and then to “feed” this information back to the performer in real-time so the performer can modify their motion to achieve the desired outcome,” said Professor Steele.

Professor Steele said that although advances in technology have provided highly sophisticated equipment for biomechanical analyses of human performance, many of these items are unsuitable as biofeedback devices because they require extensive data processing before meaningful information can be relayed back to the performer.

“Recent advances in polymer science, however, now enable inherently conducting polymers to be integrated into appropriate host fabrics, creating the opportunity to develop wearable sensors which offer novel biomonitoring options."

“These fabric sensors, with strain gauge-like properties that have a wide dynamic range, are ideal for biomonitoring applications as they can be integrated directly into existing clothing and equipment without changing the material properties or functions of these items and without interfering with normal human motion.”

Professor Steele explained that when connected to appropriate electronic circuitry, these fabric sensors can also act as unique wearable systems capable of providing biofeedback to the wearer with respect to their joint motion.

“The purpose of the talk was to overview the development of these unique fabric sensors, from their initial application in monitoring breast motion to the development of an innovative fabric biofeedback system designed for use in landing training programs to reduce the rate of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures."

Future applications of fabric biofeedback systems in enhancing patient rehabilitation following total knee replacement surgery were also presented.