Brooks Rehabilitation Motion Analysis Center (MAC) Celebrates National Biomechanics Day

The Brooks Rehabilitation Motion Analysis Center (MAC) joined a national initiative called “National Biomechanics Day (NBD)”, which is celebrated in more than 30 different countries around the world. The goal of this global initiative is to expose local high school students to the world of biomechanics and different professions that may be involved. The MAC team uses biomechanics to understand how people move, how injuries alter movement and to enhance rehabilitation outcomes.

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This year, the MAC team connected with local high school students to share knowledge of biomechanics and explain how it is used here at Brooks Rehabilitation to identify impairments in walking function or jumping tasks for individuals with all types of injuries. We discussed the equipment used to conduct motion capture testing and guided students through a patient example from our Brooks MAC. Students were also introduced to different professions that make up our team, including physical therapists, engineers, research scientists and public health professionals.

The MAC has hosted NBD events since the start of this initiative in 2017. We switched to a virtual event in 2021 during the pandemic, which allowed us to reach more students. The 2021 event reached 72 students who expressed great excitement about the presentation. We built on the success of 2021 and involved 125 new students in 2022. These students were freshman and juniors from the Medical Academy Program at Mandarin High School. We thank Mandarin High School for allowing us to celebrate “National Biomechanics Day” with their students and we look forward to celebrating again next year.