Human vibration upside down or two faces of Janus Seminar
- Time:
- 15:00 - 16:00
- Date:
- 30 November 2016
- Venue:
- Building 13, Room 3017
Event details
ISVR Seminar
Almost half a century ago A. Berthoz suggested that three frequency ranges should be considered in human vibration: the low, middle and high range to distinguish dominating mechanisms underlying the effects. The work presented will primarily pertain to the high frequency range (> 20 Hz) to illustrate two faces of mechanical vibration. This mechanical action applied to human tissues activates sensory mechanoreceptors, which contributes to the alteration of sensory information, perception and muscle/movement control. For example hand vibration can lead to motor unit synchronization and exacerbate muscle fatigue, considered a precursor of musculoskeletal disorders. Furthermore, tactile vibration can lead to a decrease in pain perception, postural reorganization or, when considered as an alarm, may promote the immediate recall of a motor program to recover from a fall. While whole body vibration exposure results in several health issues it also contributes to complex movement alterations strongly dependent on frequency, which makes the development of an active biodynamic model a headache. The mechanisms underlying the diverse phenomena will be discussed.
Speaker information
Dr Bernard Martin , University of Michigan . Bernard J. Martin received an Engineering degree in applied physics and electrical engineering from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Marseille, France; Ph.D. (biomedical engineering) and Docteur Es Science (Neuroscience) degrees from the Université de Provence, Marseille, France, in 1980 and 1989, respectively. He was a research fellow and the University of California Berkeley and worked for nine years at the INRS between 1981 and 1990. He is Currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, adjunct Research Scientist in the school of Kinesiology and affiliate of the Biomedical Engineering program, at The University of Michigan. His research interests are in human motor control, sensorimotor systems, muscle fatigue, Biomechanics, motion simulation, human vibration, stroke rehabilitation.