ISTM at the International Shoulder Group meeting

A few weeks ago I went to Winterthur, Switzerland to meet a group of old friends. It wasn’t a holiday; I was there for the biennial meeting of the International Shoulder Group, a technical group of the International Society of Biomechanics.

This is a meeting for people who work in the area of shoulder biomechanics. We try to understand how the shoulder works, what goes wrong after injury or disease, how to improve its movement in sport, and how to protect it in well-designed work environments. For those of us doing shoulder research (and probably nobody other than us) it is a fascinating topic, and we look forward to getting together every couple of years and discussing it.

My particular focus is mathematical modelling of the shoulder. Using models allows us to investigate how muscles and joints work without invasive procedures on actual people. It is a very useful tool, and one of the ways we use it is to design technological systems that tackle paralysis.

Co-presenter Ricardo Matias (University of Lisbon) during the modelling workshop

As part of the International Shoulder Group meeting this year, I ran a modelling workshop that aimed to introduce modelling to people who have not used it before. The response was very positive, and everyone seemed keen to give it a go. With participants from 13 different countries, it is great to know that our models could be used all over the world!

Dimitra and her thank-you gift for helping to organise the conference

Shoulder biomechanists are such a lovely lot, and I can’t wait to see everyone again in 2018!