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Anderson Lab

We study how aging, disease, injury and disability can contribute to altered biomechanics, with a focus on spine biomechanics.

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Welcome to the Anderson Lab!

Musculoskeletal conditions and injuries are the leading cause of disability in Americans, and are particularly common among older adults. In our lab we study how aging, disease, injury and disability can contribute to altered biomechanics, with a focus on spine biomechanics. Our research efforts lie in several inter-connected areas:

  • Advancing understanding of spine biomechanics, especially in the context of its effects on physical function and in clinical conditions such as vertebral fractures, spinal stenosis, spinal deformity, and spine metastases.
  • Developing advanced methodology for efficient evaluation of spinal motion and loading. This includes studying clinically feasible approaches to motion analysis and efficient methods for person-specific biomechanical modeling. These are necessary developments to enable biomechanical analyses in large-scale population-based studies, clinical studies, and clinical practice.
  • Biomechanics-based evaluation of interventions and treatments.

Through these efforts we aim to inform improved prevention and treatment measures to reduce disability and restore musculoskeletal health.

Regards,
Dennis E. Anderson, PhD
Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery
Harvard Medical School
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

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Facility

Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies

The Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies (CAOS), located at One Overland Street, is the basic science center for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. The Anderson Lab’s office space and computational modeling work is based here.

 

Facility

 

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Facility

Motion Analysis Laboratory

Dr. Anderson established a human motion analysis laboratory within the Clinical Research Center at BIDMC in 2016. Based on BIDMC’s East Campus, this multipurpose space includes full capabilities for gait and spinal motion analysis, as well as metabolic testing, with the following equipment:

  • Vicon motion analysis system with 10 motion analysis cameras and 2 integrated video cameras
  • Delsys Trigno digital wireless electromyography (EMG) system (8x wireless EMG sensor with integrated accelerometer)
  • Xsens Awinda Full body wireless motion capture system (17x wireless inertial measurement units)
  • Two AMTI OR6-7-1000 force platforms
  • ProtoKinetics Zeno pressure sensitive walkway, 16 feet long
  • Treadmill and exercise bike
  • Metabolic cart for indirect calorimetry
  • Hologic Discovery A fan beam x-ray bone densitometer (DXA) with APEX 4.5.3 Discovery software