About the Michael W. Krzyzewski Human Performance Lab

 

Over the past year the researchers and students in the K-Lab have primarily focused on gaining a better understanding of athletic injuries. The goal of this work has been focused on ensuring that the Duke athletes as well as recreational athletes are able to continue to participate to the best of their ability. Studies being conducted at the lab have ranged from examining the interaction between FieldTurf and different types of soccer shoes to studying the degenerative processes of knee osteoarthritis. This work has been funded through industry contracts as well as the National Institutes of Health.

 

One source of funding for the K-Lab has been an industry contract with Nike, Inc. This grant focused on identifying potential injury risk factors in athletes who play cleated sports. Based on this work the researchers in the K-Lab were able to make some suggestions for alterations in cleat design to improve performance and reduce the risk of injury to cleated sport athletes. The relationship that has been built with Nike, Inc will be ongoing allowing the K-Lab to continue research in the area of foot, ankle, and knee injury prevention and to improve performance through shoe design innovations.

 

With the increased incidence of knee osteoarthritis in aging athletes, the K-Lab has been vital in collecting movement (kinematic and kinetic) data on patients who have knee osteoarthritis in an attempt to understand how the disease alters movement patterns. This work has been funded as a portion of a larger program project grant funded by the National Institutes of Health.

 

The K-Lab is presently working on trying to better understand the mechanism of hamstring strains in runners. In addition to examining the activation of the hamstrings, quadriceps, and gastrocnemius muscles during sprinting, the K-lab is also examining different hamstring strengthening exercises to determine which type of exercise can increase both concentric and eccentric strength in an attempt to prevent injuries.

 

Another major focus of the K-Lab has been stress fractures of the foot. The K-Lab has been focused on trying to determine what types of movements cause both fifth metatarsal stress fractures in men as well as second and third metatarsal stress fractures in women.

 

The research done in the K-Lab has been presented at national and international meetings such as, the American Society of Biomechanics, the International Society of Biomechanics, Nike’s Global Research Symposium, and the American College of Sports Medicine.