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PT 595: Seminar
4/26/2016
Reflection #1
“Learning why we fall and why we don’t…one step at a time” by Andrew Sawers, CPO, PhD
Dr. Sawers gave a talk focused on locomotor expertise and how our understanding of it
can help us guide rehabilitation. In his research, he has focused on studying balance control in
individuals with unilateral amputees, healthy individuals and ballet dancers. This has allowed
him to study balance across the whole spectrum of skill level. His method of studying balance
control involves the use of beams which have a modifiable level of difficulty. The use of the
beams allows him to study balance failures during walking. In addition to the beams, he uses
electromyography and kinetics which are analyzed using the methods of synergies. Through
variability. Through these methods, he was able to discover that experts have more general
balance control with more complex combinations which allows them to have more versatility. By
understanding what makes experts better, he proposes that we can begin to develop rehabilitation
Through Dr. Sawer’s talk, I gained a new perspective on balance control and using
failures as a means of probing the motor system. Particularly, the idea of studying experts is one
which I have never considered but given that they are at the top level of physical performance, it
misconduct is defined as any serious deviation from accepted ethical guidelines and professional
standards in scholarship and research. Dr. Grabiner’s lecture went through how misconduct is
and reviewing research. He noted that the principal investigator (PI) accepts the responsibility of
the scientific conduct which occurs during the research process starting from seeking approval
from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to the presentation of the work. And that any
Through Dr. Grabiner’s lecture, I was able to learn about the basic guidelines of research
conduct. Although I was familiar with the basic process of subject protection, I learned a few tips
about how to avoid succumbing to research misconduct. The most important lesson which I
learned was that the research process goes beyond experimentation and analyses, that research is
a process goes from proposal to presentation. And that this process should be respected and
carried out judiciously. With the perspective which I gained from Dr. Grabiner’s lecture, I