The focus will be on the moving healthy body during sports and physical performance, the prevention of sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity. Clinical biomechanics will cover ‘clinical gait analysis’ being a diagnostic tool to assess deviations in walking performance, aiming for the identification of its aetiology, i.e. dysfunction of part(s) of the neuro-musculoskeletal system to inform clinical decision making in patients who experience walking problems.
Next, we will address how to optimize movement and physical performance of adult patients and children with musculoskeletal and neurological disorders, with an emphasis on disturbed motor function of the lower and upper limbs, and its consequences for daily life. Consequences of disorders, such as osteoarthritis, fractures, bone and joint deviations, multi-trauma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and amputations will become apparent at the three WHO-ICF levels of functioning: impairments in function of body structures (tissues and organs), limitations in functional activities, and restrictions in daily life. In children, the diseases of primary interest are cerebral paresis, prematurely born infants, scoliosis, obstetric plexus injuries and connective tissue disorders. The diagnostics of the body in motion and surgical and therapeutic options will be presented by pediatric physicians and researchers specialized in the field of pediatric orthopaedics and rehabilitation medicine. Precision diagnostics, based on aetiology, will be developed to personalize therapies that restore, adapt, or support the neuro-musculoskeletal system to optimize movement and physical performance.
The minor (24 or 30 EC) consists of two components:
- The minor-module Move your body (24 EC)
- Tracks of 30 EC will be completed with a literature essay (6 EC)
NB: Exchange students who wish to apply for one of these tracks need to have completed at least 90 EC in a relevant program, like for example in medicine, biomedicine, psychobiology, technical medicine, medical biology, liberal arts & sciences or biopharmaceutical sciences.