Walking and Movement Lab

Head: Dr. Schwartz Isabella
Engineer and Scientific Director: Martin Seyres

The Hadassah Walking and Movement laboratory was designed specifically to examine walking and to investigate movement accurately and scientifically. It provides quantitative values that describe in detail the movements and manner of walking of the subject. Based on these data, the most appropriate course of treatment for the patient can be decided upon and likewise the outcomes as well as the changes in his gait following treatment can be monitored.

In the Western world, walking laboratories are an integral part of rehabilitation treatment in multi-professional rehabilitation centers for children and adults and are used for clinical evaluation of the effectiveness of treatments including orthopedic surgery, splint adjustment or other walking aids and orthotics for walking, and building programs for injecting drugs into the muscles and nerves. The test helps to select the most appropriate treatment and has been composed for children and adults with cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, traumatic head injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, anoxic brain injury, Parkinson's disease and polio.

The Walking laboratory at Hadassah Mount Scopus is equipped with the newest and most up-to-date video-based capture system that exists today in the field of research on motion analysis.

More specifically, the custom tests can include:

1. A individualised kinematic test for exactly measuring the movement of each moving joint.

2. A video recording to document each step of walking.

3. Electromyography tests to measure electrical activities and contraction patterns of the muscles during gait.

4. Algorithms measuring the speed of walking, length of steps, symmetry of the sides, number of steps per minute, etc.

5. Invididualised biomechanical models based on the data gathered on the patient, which allow us to calculate further information on specific area and body parts.