Yu Song - Research Mentor Spotlight

Bio:

Name: Yu Song

Department: Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences

Describe your research/creative scholarship in a few sentences that we can all understand: 

My research focuses on using biomechanical analysis to understand anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, as well as re-injury risk factors and mechanisms. We hope to provide evidence to effectively and accurately assess rehabilitation progress after ACL injury in clinical settings and monitor the training effects.

Questions:

Q: What does your research look like on a day-to-day basis? What do you spend most of your time doing?

A : We recruit volunteers, both patients and healthy individuals, to participate in our research. Participants visit our Biomechanics Laboratory in Robinson Center. We place several sensors on their body landmark to capture their movement and force during jump-landing using motion capture systems and force plates. Then, we model and calculate the joint loading to answer specific research questions.

Q: What do students in your discipline learn by doing research that they wouldn’t learn by just taking classes?

A: They all have the opportunity to learn how to use professional biomechanics equipment and perform basic data modeling in the laboratory. Through hands-on experiences and one-on-one research meetings, they can apply theoretical knowledge from class to real-world scenarios. In particular, many of my students aspire to careers as physical therapists, occupational therapists, physician assistants, etc. The laboratory techniques they acquire may support their future professional goals.