Applied Biomechanics Lab

Paralympic athlete running

Clare Small 106 and 111
phone: 303-492-0926
fax: 303-492-4009

Research Interests

  • The biomechanical and metabolic effects of lower limb prostheses and exoskeletons on walking, running, hopping, jumping, bicycling, and sprinting.

Personnel

  • Director: Alena Grabowski, PhD.
  • Postdoctoral Fellows: Caelyn Hirschman, PhD.
  • Graduate Students: Gabriela Diaz, Bradley Needles, Luis Morata-Moreno
  • Collaborators: Christopher Arellano, Ph.D., Brown University; William Byrnes, Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder; Susan D'Andrea, Ph.D., Providence VAMC; Hugh Herr, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Trevor Kingsbury, Ph.D. Naval Medical Center San Diego; Rodger Kram, Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder; William McDermott, Ph.D., The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, Utah; Craig McGowan, Ph.D., University of Idaho; Justus Ortega, Ph.D., Humboldt State University; Mark Rentschler, Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder; Anne Silverman, Ph.D., Colorado School of Mines.
ABL Lab

(L to R): Gabriela Diaz, Alena Grabowski, Luis Morata-Moreno, Mark Massier, Zane Colvin, Bradley Needles, Caelyn Hirschman.

Current Research Projects

  • Can sensory feedback training improve the biomechanical and metabolic effects of using passive or powered lower limb prostheses during walking for Veterans with transtibial amputations? (Hirschman, Zhang, Grabowski)
  • How do lower limb prosthetic stiffness and power affect the biomechanics, metabolic costs, and satisfaction of Veterans with transtibial amputations during walking?” (Colvin, Tacca, Grabowski)
  • Understanding the effects of a springy surfaces during hopping and running (Morata-Moreno, Grabowski)
  • How does use of a running-specific leg prosthesis affect curve-running performance? (Diaz, Grabowski)
  • Optimizing prosthetic components for women with amputation. (Ashcraft, Grabowski)
  • Optimizing prosthetic and bicycle fit for Veterans with transtibial amputations (Allen, Grabowski)
  • Improving socket fit in Veterans with transtibial and transfemoral amputations (Diaz, Morata-Moreno, Grabowski)
  • How do "Super" shoes and spikes affect running performance? (Needles, Grabowski)

Opportunities for Undergraduates

The requirements for undergraduate students who would like research experience in our Lab are:

  • Completed at least one year in college.
  • Will be at for at least two more semesters.
  • Available for 8-10 hours of time per week in blocks of 2-4 hours at a time.
  • IPHY, MCDB, PSYCH, Applied Math, and Engineering majors are encouraged.

For more information, contact Prof. Alena Grabowski (alena.grabowski@colorado.edu). Unfortunately, due to high demand, we cannot accommodate all qualified students.

Recent Publications

  • JR Tacca, ZA Colvin, & AM Grabowski. Greater than recommended stiffness and power setting of a stance-phase powered leg prosthesis can improve step-to-step transition work and effective foot length ratio during walking in people with transtibial amputation. Frontiers in Bioengineering doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1336520
  • KR Ashcraft & AM Grabowski. Prosthetic Stiffness and Added Mass Affect Metabolic Power and Asymmetry in Female Runners with a Leg Amputation Journal of Applied Physiology
  • BJ Needles & AM Grabowski. Letter to the Editor: When Does Technology Become Too Advanced for Track and Field? Journal of Applied Physiology
  • CE Hirschmann, JR Montgomery, & AM Grabowski. The contribution of lower-limb joint quasi-stiffness to theoretical leg stiffness during level, uphill and downhill running at different speeds. Royal Society Open Science
  • SP Allen & AM Grabowski. The spring stiffness profile within a passive, full-leg exoskeleton affects lower-limb joint mechanics while hopping. Royal Society Open Science
  • JR Tacca, ZA Colvin, & AM Grabowski. Low-profile prosthetic foot stiffness category and size, and shoes affect axial and torsional stiffness and hysteresis. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences 
  • GB Diaz, RS Alcantara, & AM Grabowski. Maximum velocity and leg-specific ground reaction force production change with radius during flat curve sprinting. Journal of Experimental Biology jeb.246649.
  • JH Zhang-Lea, JR Tacca, ON Beck, P Taboga, & AM Grabowski. Equivalent running leg lengths require prosthetic legs to be longer than biological legs during standing. Scientific reports 13 (1), 7679.
  • Z Colvin, JR Montgomery (née Jeffers) & AM Grabowski. Effects of powered versus passive-elastic ankle foot prostheses on leg muscle activity during level, uphill, and downhill walking. Royal Society Open Science
  • SP Allen, ON Beck, & AM Grabowski. Evaluating the “cost of generating force” hypothesis across frequency in human running and hopping. Journal of Experimental Biology 2022 Sep 15;225(18):jeb244755. doi: 10.1242/jeb.244755. Epub 2022 Sep 28.
  • JR Tacca, ON Beck, P Taboga, & AM Grabowski. Running-specific prosthesis model, stiffness and height affect biomechanics and asymmetry of athletes with unilateral leg amputations across speeds. Royal Society Open Science Accepted 4 May 2022 9: 211691 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211691
  • KR Ashcraft & AM Grabowski. Characterizing the Mechanical Stiffness of Passive-Dynamic Ankle-Foot Orthosis Struts. Front Rehab Sci, Published 15 April 2022 
  • RS Alcantara, WB Edwards, G Millet, & AM Grabowski. Predicting continuous ground reaction forces from accelerometers during uphill and downhill running: A recurrent neural network solution. PeerJ Published Jan. 4, 2022
  • ON Beck, P Taboga, & AM Grabowski. Sprinting with prosthetic versus biological legs: insight from experimental data. Royal Society Open Science Published 2022-1-5