Welcome to PULSE Racing - a Dream Team from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. At PULSE Racing, a group of passionate students with different medical, technological, administrative and communication backgrounds work together on one mission: improving the mobility and vitality of people with spinal cord injury.
At PULSE Racing, we use Functional Electrostimulation (FES) to activate the paralysed leg muscles of people with spinal cord injury. The electrical pulses cause the muscles to contract. The result? Cycling using one's own leg muscle strength, despite the spinal cord injury!
PULSE Racing is committed to several goals, including improving, applying and raising awareness of the FES as a rehabilitation technology to promote independence and mobility for people with spinal cord injury. In addition, PULSE Racing is also active in parasports through participation in various FES competitions.
In terms of rehabilitation technology, Functional Electrostimulation (FES) offers several benefits for patients with spinal cord injury. It activates paralysed muscles, enabling new movements and restoring muscle function. This promotes independence by helping with daily activities such as standing, walking and cycling. Regular use of FES can reduce complications such as bedsores and reduced bone density, improving overall health. In addition, FES boosts cardiovascular health and promotes neuroplasticity, which is beneficial for repair and maintenance of brain and spinal cord circuits. PULSE Racing aims to optimise the quality of life, independence and mobility of people with spinal cord injury.
Besides the rehabilitation field, PULSE Racing is also active in parasports. As a team, we have already achieved several successes, such as wins at the Cybathlon (also called the tech-paralympic games) and the Lyon Cyber Days.
In short: PULSE Racing connects sport, rehabilitation and technology, promotes FES and welcomes passionate students from different backgrounds to further develop themselves and the team!
Supervisor/ambassador: Sjoerd Bruijn
My main research interest is how humans are able to walk on two legs with such remarkable ease. I am convinced that this is due to two things; 1) the way the human body is build, and 2) remarkable control from the central nervous system. In my research, I try to disentangle how this control is achieved.
For instance, during my time as postdoc in Leuven, I combined kinematic measures of gait with brain imaging methods, in order to focus on the neural control of gait stability. I designed a gait-related dual-task paradigm combining fMRI and state-of-the-art diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). This project helped to identify (some) gait-related brain areas and corresponding pathways.
Recently, in my NWO-Veni funded project, I’ve used measurements of brain activity during walking, by means of Electro-EncephaloGraphy to see which parts of the brain are involved in making us walk stable on two legs.
Currently, I am starting up and NWO-VIDI project, to follow up on my Veni project. In this project, I will test the hypothesis that gait stability is controlled only in certain moments in the gait cycle. A project page on this project will be online soon.
Supervisor/ambassador: Maarten Afschrift
University lecturer Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences
Testimonials of other students
“I discovered that if you really go for something together, you can achieve a lot. Believing that creates a lot of energy and confidence among your teammates and yourself. I now have the courage to delegate to people instead of thinking ‘I'll do it myself’. Ambassadors, your team made up of students from all kinds of programmes and all different years: everyone helps to share knowledge and experiences, and I learned a lot from that. It also made me more flexible. I now think in terms of solutions instead of problems.”
Kristel den Engelsman, Fourth-year student of Human Movement Sciences – deputy manager PULSE Racing Dream Team
“Working within the PULSE Dream Team is a very valuable experience. The translation of theory into practice is educational and also a lot of fun. I’m using my scientific knowledge in a different way, but I’m also learning how to manage and organize a company. PULSE has given me insight into what is possible with my education. I have also learned how important working in a multidisciplinary team can be.”
Birgit Kaman, MSc Human Movement Sciences and former Dream Team
Also read the articles on the VU website:
Cycling almost 20 kilometres with paralysed muscles: Peter van Burk does it
How VU students help athletes with spinal cord injuries
VU Dream Team PULSE Racing takes silver at Cybathlon
This team is linked to the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences