LABORATÓRIO DE BIOMECÂNICA E MORFOLOGIA FUNCIONAL

• From January 2009 to Present
• Team Members: Rita Santos Rocha, Marco Branco, Liliana Aguiar, Cristina Portela, Tânia Santos, Lidia Farinha, Maria Filomena Vieira, António Veloso
• Contact: Rita Santos-Rocha (Program Coordinator)  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The main purpose of the ACTIVE PREGNANCY study is to analyse the effect of physical exercise programs, recreational and therapeutic, on gait biomechanics, functionality, morphology and on the prevention and treatment of low back pain, in women during pregnancy and post-partum. Other objectives are the prospective analysis of: quantification and distribution of external biomechanical load acting on the feet; alterations of morphology (mother and foetus/weight and position); the type and level of physical activity; as well as the analysis of; the intervention of abdominal muscles in pelvic stability and inter rectis distance; interaction of the level of physical activity, biomechanical parameters, morphology and pain; and the promotion of physical activity.

• From January 2011 to Present
• Team members: Margarida Espanha, Flavia Yazigi, Luis Carrão, António Veloso
• Contact: Margarida Espanha (Program Coordinator) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

The aim of PICO study is to design an aquatic exercise program specific for obese individuals with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) where the main goals are: 1) KOA symptoms management and 2) improvement of physical fitness. The musculoskeletal pain is the main constraint for any kind of mobility and its control should be considered an important goal in the weight management's programs. Therefore the PICO project proposes an aquatic exercise program to control pain and other symptoms management, showing that it is possible to live with the disease, and motivating the change in lifestyle, thus preventing the installation or worsening of KOA.

• From January 2006 to Present
• Team members: Filomena Carnide, Fátima Ramalho, Helô André, Maria Machado, Vera Moniz Pereira and António Veloso
• Contact: Filomena Carnide - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Within the Locomotion and falls in elderly people, an epidemiological and biomechanical assessment of risk factors has been conducted. The subjects have been recruited from various Senior Institutions from Lisbon, to participate in a multidisciplinary study, in order to determine predictive factors for falls incidence regarding general and visual health, functional fitness and physical activity. This evaluation has been performed through questionnaires, field tests, laboratory tests and optometry measures.