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
- Congratulations to Dr. Maxine He at Graduate College Ceremony!
- Neurological Gait team presenting poster at the UIUC Undergraduate Research Symposium
- PD Team presenting at the UIUC Undergraduate Research Symposium
- MS Team presenting at the UIUC Undergraduate Research Symposium
News
Reading Between the Brain Waves: Inside a Scientist’s Work on Mobility and Aging
Many of us don’t think twice about walking across a room. We talk, check our phones, navigate furniture, all without a second thought. But for millions of people living with neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease, those same actions demand intense, conscious effort. Understanding exactly why is [our mission]…
Using Delta to Help Shape Better Mental Health
Imagine you’re at the store, and suddenly you start to get really anxious. The moment passes, but your doctor has told you to keep track of these events and report them so you can manage your anxiety better. The only problem is that the details of the moment get fuzzy, and you can’t say exactly what triggered the moment. You might have been thinking about something at work or at home. Or maybe it was a stray conversation you heard that reminded you of something you dread. You’re not even really sure how anxious you were. But what if you’d been wearing something that monitored and recorded your body’s response to stress?
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…