Menu Close
Lecturer in Biomechanics, University of Bath

Polly McGuigan is Director of Learning and and Teaching for the Departmnt for Health and has been lecturer in biomechanics at the University of Bath since October 2005.

She was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University between 2003-5 looking at limb muscle dynamics during steady and unsteady locomotion, and at Leeds University from 2002-2003 looking at mechanical performance of bird flight muscles.

Her research interests include:

Muscle and tendon mechanics.

The interaction of the contractile and elastic elements of the muscle-tendon unit.

How muscle work and power are modulated in response to different locomotor activities such as walking, running, jumping, incline/decline, acceleration/deceleration and perturbations in gaits such as tripping.

Changes in muscle-tendon unit mechanics with ageing, injury and fatigue and the affect these have on the mechanics of joints and limb function.

The interaction of age related changes in muscle mechanics and neural activity and the effect these have on the ability to perform locomotor tasks.

The mechanics of tripping – how changes in walking velocity and the timing, magnitude and nature of the trip stimulus affect recovery mechanism and success.

These are all investigated using a combination of ultrasound imaging, forceplate and motion analysis and EMG.

Experience

  • –present
    Lecturer in Biomechanics, University of Bath