Idsart Kingma

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Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam
room A434

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+31 20 59 88501

General Interests

My main research interest is spine loading and effects of measures to reduce such loading, e.g. by ergonomics measures, improving lifting technique, and use of exoskeletons. In addition, I am interested in the cause, development and treatment of spine disorders. Another part of my research is focusing on sports biomechanics and the risk of sports injuries such as ankle sprains and knee anterior cruciate ligament ruptures.

Achievements

I have supervised 11 PhD students that have graduated, and at present I am supervising 9 PhD students. Of those students, 6 will graduate at the VU. I have (co-) authored over 150 papers in international scientific journals. I serve on the editorial boards of Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, and Journal of Biomechanics.

Current Research

My current research focus is in the development and testing of spine supporting exoskeletons. In five PhD projects, we are working on development of trunk and head support for patients with muscular dystrophy (Symbionics, TTW perspectief); development of trunk support for prevention and rehabilitation of low back pain (EU program SPEXOR, TTW perspectief program Wearable Robotics, and a collaborative project with TNO). Furthermore, in collaboration with a soccer club, the Dutch soccer association and a company I work on lower limb stability in relation to injury.

Résumé

I obtained my PhD in 1998 from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, based on the thesis entitled: ‘Challenging gravity: the mechanics of lifting’. My current position is associate professor at the Department of Human Movement Sciences. As a co-applicant I received grants from NWO (MaGw, 2003 and 2009) from the EU (Spexor, 2015) and TTW (Pespectief program Wearable Robotics ,2018).

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Research…

Balance testing
In this project we aim to develop outcome measures of static single leg balance tests and dynamic single leg landing tasks to evaluate sensorimotor control, more specifically the ability of an individual to stabilize posture, suitable for large-scale assessment of performance and injury risk in athletes, and for evaluation of recovery after injury
Biomechanics of ballistic whole-body movement in elite athletes
In this project we aim to understand the motor control strategy during ballistic sports actions and the function of the joints and muscles involved. Specifically, we investigate the full-body 3D kinematics and kinetics of top level hockey players during performance of the drag-push, and the diving save of top level goal keepers in football. Results ...
Markers of progression and early predictors in Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common condition in elderly. gait and postural control mechanisms are progressively affected in patients with PD. We use a single body-worn inertial sensor to analyze short episodes of gait. We extract signal features to objectify and understand gait changes in patients with PD, and to find markers for early detection ...
Spexor: The effects of a spinal exoskeleton on biomechanics, performance, and user-satisfaction in healthy people and low back pain patients
In a European consortium, we are working on development of exoskeleton systems aiming at reduction of back loading in the context of prevention of low-back pain and rehabilitation/training of low-back pain patients. We aim to formulate requirements based on known risk factors for low-back pain. Furthermore, we perform iterative evaluations of prototypes in healthy subjects ...
Spine Biomechanics
Understanding biomechanical behavior of the spine under short term and long term loading is vital to comprehend the control over spine movement, unravel injury mechanisms and to understand intervertebral disc degeneration. In addition, this work is needed to improve surgical interventions related to, e.g., treatment of scoliosis, and for effective design of new therapeutic interventions, ...
Symbionics: Co-adaptive support of trunk and head in relation to arm movements
Patients with pareses such as Duchenne Muscle Dystrophy gradually lose control of their muscles and at some point during development of the disease they are unable to stabilize and move their trunk and head. This impedes not just head and trunk function but also arm function. In this project, we aim to develop passive and ...
Wearable Robotics: Exo-Aid for augmenting human physical capacities
Patients with pareses such as Duchenne Muscle Dystrophy gradually lose control of their muscles and at some point during development of the disease they are unable to stabilize and move their trunk and head. This impedes not just head and trunk function but also arm function. In this project, we aim to develop passive and ...