An update from Dr Sara Harper – Public Overview – December 2024

Lab Status

 Healthy Age-Related Physical Function Exercise/Ergonomics Research (HARPER) Laboratory Renovation is in the process – I aim for the final installation of SMA stairs in December 2024.

Initial Use of SMA Stairs

 1. Evaluating Foot Placement on Stairway Steps – Spring semester 2025

For this R15 submission, I would like to propose using SMA stairs vs. instrument/force plate steps for many reasons, including transferability, design, nosing of stairs (vs. straight drop on force plates), and ease of condition comparisons. Here, I am proposing that there be three populations: (1) young, healthy adults, (2) older adults (65+) with no reported vision challenges, and (3) older adults (65+) with ‘low vision, or difficulty seeing.’ Optical motion capture, eye tracking, and muscle activation (Delsys Trigno Centro) will also be integrated.

Grant Funding Updates

Human Factors and Ergonomics DE&I Seed Grant. Improving Stairway Designs for Individuals with Vision Impairment Seed Grant Targeting the Intersections of HFE and AntiBias. (Funded).

Current/In-process Research

  • Home Stairway Survey: Attitudes and intentions to use handrails on both sides of stairways and add tread-edge striping to home stairways. The survey has ended (November 25, 2024), and we are proceeding with data cleaning and analysis.

Current/In-process Research (cont.)

  • Roy, Chen, and I (all at UAH) are finalizing the manuscript entitled New Falls in Older Adults: Preventative Approaches to Proactively Address Fall-Risk.
  • Biomechanical Considerations of Falls of Older Adults in Long-Term Care Homes. Chen, Satyuki, and I have access to a secured data repository of videos (that older adults gave consent to) that capture video of falls in common areas of two long-term care facilities in Canada. We will use 2D technology to assess 3D renderings of the videos to evaluate the biomechanical considerations that may have impacted these falls.

 Other Updates

  • Spring 2025 Harper Lab Open house – A 2025 e-invitation will be forthcoming