Dr. Cheryl Kozey

Dr. Cheryl Kozey

Professor, Co –Director of the Dynamics of Human Motion Laboratory

BPE (UNB) MSc (Waterloo), PhD (Dal)

Cross-appointments: School of Biomedical Engineering (BME)

Nova Scotia Health Authority Affiliate Scientist, Department of Surgery

Maritime SPOR Support Unit, Research Associate

Office: Room 316B, Forrest Building
Tel: (902) 494-2635
Email: cheryl.kozey@dal.ca


Please note that Dr. Kozey is not taking on new students at this time.

Research interests: The Innovation in Musculoskeletal Heath and Physical activity Team (IMPACT) is multidisciplinary, including researchers from engineering, physiotherapy, kinesiology and strong clinician scientist collaborations. IMPACT is interested in promoting “Mobility for Life” through research aimed at reducing the limitations in physical function associated with the high prevalence of bone and joint disorders. Dr. Kozey is the Co-Director of the Dynamics of Human Motion laboratory with Dr. Astephen Wilson in the School of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Kozey’s primary research interest is in understanding functional decline in those with bone and joint problems, primarily knee joint osteoarthritis and low back conditions. Her goal is to provide innovative solutions to keep people with these problems moving to maintain their joint health and subsequently overall general health through improving their physical functional. Her research is showing the importance of joint level biomechanics and specifically the role that the knee joint muscles play to maintain joint health. Indeed inappropriate joint biomechanics and muscle activity can create a negative joint environment adding to the worsening or pain and joint damage. This research is leading to identifying biomechanical targets that can form the basis for early non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Sample projects that graduate students have worked on include:  i) cross-sectional studies looking at how OA severity changes joint and muscle function, ii) looking at pre and post total knee arthroplasty outcomes and predicting poor outcomes, iii) examining the effects of conservative treatments such as bracing on the joint and muscles as well as on physical activity levels, iv) follow up study to determine what factors are related to increase risk of progressing to a total joint replacement surgery, v) comparing muscle activation patterns between those who do not have a low back injury to those recently recovered from a low back injury to determine who is at greater risk for re-injury, vi) determine the amount and intensity of physical activity for those with knee osteoarthritis and how does this impact pain and joint damage, vii) looking at differences in the trunk muscle activation and control in older adults and what implication that this has for increased risk of falls and viii) looking at trunk muscle control and spinal stability in those with a low back injury and the risk of re-injury.

Recurrent Low Back Injury Prediction
The goal of Dr. Cheryl Hubley-Kozey's research is to better understand recovery from a low back injury and to use this information to develop a prediction model for those who reinjure.

Publications:

Google Scholar
Researchgate.net