Welcome!
Welcome to the Mobility and Fall Prevention Research Laboratory (MFPRL) in the Department of Health & Kinesiology within the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The goal of the lab is to further our understanding of the volitional control of compensatory postural responses and contribute to the existing body of fall prevention research in older adults. We use state-of-the-art motion capture, equipment for biomechanical measures, and non-invasive brain imaging to simultaneously record movements and brain activity during functional whole body movements. Using interdisciplinary approaches, our lab examines the underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying postural dysfunction in older adults with neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis to identify prospective behavioral and neural biomarkers of neurological disorders and motor impairment. Given the interdisciplinary nature of our work, our lab collaborates with colleagues in Medicine, Neuroscience, Physics, Engineering, and Kinesiology across the University of Illinois campus and other national universities and institutions.
I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions or an interest in our program.
Dr. Manuel Hernandez
Recent Work
View the videos below for a brief introduction to some of our work:
Presentation of machine learning work at virtual 2020 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (IEEE BIBM) Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics Workshop.
Virtual paddleboarding: An immersive paddleboarding game that motivates those going through physical rehabilitation by testing their balance in a fun way. The project integrates the HTC Vive together with motion capture and a moving platform.
Recent Presentations From Team Members
- MFPRL Alumna Dr. Alka Bishnoi presents at Neuroscience 2025 in San Diego
- Graduate student Maxine He in the news
- Presentation at American Society of Biomechanics 2025 Annual Meeting by Maxine He
- Presentation at Illinois Summer Research Symposium by Jean Pierre
- Maxine He presents at CHASE 2025 and is awarded NSF Student Travel Award
News
Monitoring stress from the surface of the body
Today, [the Mobility and Fall Prevention Research] laboratory looks more like a scene from a sci-fi film than a psychology research space. Wires snake across tables, sensors lay carefully arranged on trays, and a bucket of ice water sits in the corner, quietly waiting its turn…
CI MED Research Tracks the ‘Secret Sauce’ of Tai Chi’s Effect on Balance in Aging
Scientists at Carle Illinois College of Medicine have uncovered clues on how aging and practicing the ancient exercise of Tai Chi affect the brain-muscle connection while maintaining balance. Their work takes an innovative technology-based approach to identifying the ‘secret sauce’ behind Tai Chi’s mind-body benefits and applying those discoveries to other forms of exercise to improve health.
Wearable sensors for Parkinson’s can improve with machine learning, data from healthy adults
Low-cost, wearable sensors could increase access to care for patients with Parkinson’s disease. New machine-learning approaches and a baseline of data from healthy older adults improve the accuracy of the results from such sensors, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers and clinical collaborators found in a new study.