Sport Surface Mechanics
We study how sport surface properties influence athlete movement, loading, and injury risk across different sports. Our work aims to optimize performance, safety, and athlete–surface interactions.
Why It Matters
Sport surfaces play a critical role in athlete performance and injury risk. Properties such as traction, stiffness, and energy return directly influence how athletes move, load, and interact with the ground.
Understanding these interactions allows for improved surface design, safer play environments, and sport-specific optimization of performance across a range of athletic contexts.
Surface Properties
We quantify how key sport surface properties—including stiffness, energy return, and friction—affect athlete movement and mechanical loading. Our work links laboratory-based surface characterization with on-field performance outcomes.
Traction & Interaction
We investigate how athletes generate and utilize traction during sport-specific movements. This includes studying the interaction between footwear and surfaces to understand performance demands and potential injury mechanisms.
Injury Risk & Performance
Our research examines how surface conditions influence lower extremity biomechanics, with a focus on non-contact injury risk and performance optimization. We place particular emphasis on understanding these relationships in female athletes.
Methods & Capabilities
Our research integrates laboratory and field-based biomechanics to quantify athlete–surface interactions in real-world sport environments. We combine controlled mechanical testing with in-situ athlete data collection to better understand performance and injury risk.
We utilize advanced motion capture systems, force measurement technologies, and instrumented testing protocols within the Human Performance Lab (HPL) at the University of Calgary. These tools allow us to precisely assess movement mechanics and loading under sport-specific conditions.
In parallel, we deploy wearable technologies—including plantar pressure systems and inertial sensors—to capture athlete movement outside the laboratory. This approach enables scalable, real-world data collection that bridges research and applied sport performance.
Motion Capture
3D kinematics and movement analysis
Surface Testing
Mechanical characterization of sport surfaces
Wearable Sensors
Field-based athlete monitoring and data collection
