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Mohammad Al-Amri

Dr Mohammad Al-Amri

Senior Research Fellow

School of Healthcare Sciences

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Media commentator
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

My research focuses on clinical applications of virtual reality and wearable technology to help in understanding human movement and gait applied to musculoskeletal, neurological, and neurodegenerative conditions as well as brain injury. In my research I am exploring the feasibility of using the latest movement analysis affordable technologies combined with purposely developed real-time biofeedback to advance healthcare. This involves development of a novel application based on using combined motor-cognitive tasks to detect subtle impairments in patients following brain injury and to develop physical-biomarkers of cognitive decline.

I am the lead of the Sensor Physiotherapy Intervention (SPIN) Research Group that aims to excel in research and the use of digital technology in movement science and rehabilitation, aimed at finding innovative solutions to delivering even better quality of healthcare and outcomes for those living with musculoskeletal knee conditions. The specific aims of my research group are:

  • To improve understanding of human movement strategies and the applications of biomechanical analysis to optimise movement assessments into clinical practice.
  • To generate recommendations on how individuals with musculoskeletal knee conditions can benefit from physical exercise based on objective functional tests.
  • To find innovative ways of treating individuals with musculoskeletal knee conditions using technology in the clinic and home settings.

Media

My research was featured on key national and international media: ITV News , BBC Radio Wales, Cardiff University Communication Department, and Al Ra'I newspaper.

Engagement and Impact

I provided national and international workshops and I was also invited as a speaker to a number of major events including Ignite Cardiff Deluxe

External collaborations

I have a wide active network of collaborators across academic institutions and key industry, in particular with the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine (CHESM) at University of Melbourne, Biomedical Engineering at The Hashemite University, School of Computing & Communications at The Open University, Xsens Ltd, Ambiquire Ltd, and Summit Medical and Scientific Ltd.

Peer reviewer

I peer-review submissions to national and international funding bodies, including Dunhill Medical Trust; Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy (KNGF); and The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. Also for internal bids such as Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER); and The Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme. I am an active reviewer for more than 10 key national and international journals such as: Clinical Biomechanics; Nature Scientific Data; Sensors; & IEEE Access. I also an active reviewer for key national (e.g. Physiotherapy UK) and international (e.g. ICDVRAT; and ICDVR) conferences.

Key Active Roles

  • Research Committee Chair, Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER).
  • Founder and Lead of the Healthcare Sciences Journal Club.
  • Applied Healthcare Technology Sub-Theme Research Lead.
  • Executive Committee Member for Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering and Regeneration (CITER), Cardiff University.
  • Chair of Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis Sub-Rehabilitation Group and Member of its Research Committee.
  • Chair of Nomination Committee and Directory Member of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation.
  • Member of the Postgraduate Research Sub-Committee, Cardiff School of Healthcare Science.
  • Member of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)’s Prizes and Awards Panel.
  • International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation Social Media Representative.
  • Founder and the Course Lead of “Applied technology in clinical human movement analysis

Publication

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

  • Al-Amri, M., Ghoussayni, S. and Ewins, D. 2011. An overview of the Surrey virtual reality system in the rehabilitation of gait for children with cerebral palsy. Presented at: 11th WSEAS International Conference on Applied Informatics and Communications (AIC '11), 4th WSEAS International BEBI Conference (BEBI '11), Florence, Italy, 23-25 August 2011 Presented at Lazard, M. et al. eds.Recent Advances in Applied and Biomedical Informatics and Computational Engineering in Systems Applications - Proceedings of the 11th WSEAS International Conference on Applied Informatics and Communications (AIC '11) [..]. WSEAS Press pp. 210-215.

2009

2007

Arall

Cynadleddau

Erthyglau

Llyfrau

Research

Virtual rehabilitation and movement science are exciting, technologically advanced and evolving fields that provide ample opportunities to foster my passion for research.  My interests in virtual rehabilitation and movement science research began during my PhD studies, where I designed a virtual rehabilitation system from basic components including software development and a Real-time Treadmill Speed Control Algorithm. This was the first demonstration of the transformation of virtual reality-based rehabilitation from laboratory research into a rehabilitation clinic.

Biofeedback:

Building on the foundations of my PhD research and utilising the strong movement science research environment in Cardiff University, I am investigating important motor control strategies related to musculoskeletal and neurological conditions, with a particular focus on evaluating whether the novel virtual reality based biomechanics can help to ameliorate these conditions. As part of this research, I explored a novel targeted-biofeedback application in a pilot project that showed how targeted-biofeedback motivated subjects to squat by using a biomechanically constrained strategy. I presented this preliminary study at the 10th International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation, which was awarded the prize of the best poster by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Science Foundation, and International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation. This was also featured on local and national BBC TV programmes :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24467185

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24467186

This application was also explored in healthy participants and patients with knee osteoarthritis as part of ongoing a PhD project. The preliminary results of this work are being presented at the 11th Intl Conf. Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies, Los Angeles, California, USA. 

Dual-Tasks:

My current research involves the development of a novel inter-disciplinary application based on using combined motor-cognitive tasks to detect subtle impairments in patients following brain injury and to develop physical-biomarkers of cognitive decline. This will help us to develop an understanding of the impact of multi-tasks during physical activities on movement and related brain function in patients with, particularly, dementia and brain injury, which would lead to develop a system to predict those who may develop dementia in early stage.

In a preliminary study, I explored how healthy individuals respond to different presentations of virtual obstacles projected on the screen or the treadmill, which may be related to differences in demand on cognition and attention. Therefore, my initial research in this area involves an exploratory work that explores whether performance of concurrent tasks that challenge two different cognitive domains (working memory and executive function) have an impact on spatiotemporal gait parameters in healthy adult subjects, as assessed using the self-paced treadmill apparatus. At this stage I am considering gait as it is the most common motor functional task that is being clinically used to assess patients’ motor capacity independence, though it is not usually challenged with another concurrent task during clinical assessments. In this exploratory research work I am collaborating with colleagues based at the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences within the School of Medicine and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.

Postgraduate research projects:

I am interested in discussing the possibility of supervising research projects related to any of my research interest areas: virtual reality applications in rehabilitation including tele-rehabilitation and biofeedback; movement analysis and cognitive in dementia and traumatic brain injury; movement adaptations to slope walking; and clinical applications of related integrated technology for assessment and intervention.

If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application.

Research Grants:

  • 2021: The Welsh European Funding Office, Development of a Physiotherapy Intelligent Virtual Reality System, (Involvement: Principal Investigator (PI)).
  • 2021: The Welsh European Funding Office, Personalisation of Rehabilitation for Body Motion Related Injuries Through Wearable Electronics, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2020: Interreg V A France (Channel) England, Early Warning Wearable Device (EWWD) Project: An Innovative Remote Monitoring Solution That Supports Patients with Musculoskeletal Disorders and Diabetes, Whilst Creating Efficiencies in Clinical Management of Disorders, (Involvement: Co-PI).
  • 2020: Welsh Government, Clinical acceptance of technology in remote rehabilitation assessment: addressing urgent COVID challenges to drive future technology transfer, (Involvement: Member of the steering group).
  • 2020: Medical Research Council, Clinical acceptance of technology in remote rehabilitation assessment: Addressing urgent COVID challenges to drive future technology transfer, (Involvement: Member of the steering group).
  • 2020: Institutional Strategic Support Welcome Trust Mobility and Skills research award, Usability and acceptability of a portable virtual reality toolkit for people with knee pain, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2019: Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering and Repair Seedcorn award, “Development of a Portable Virtual Reality Physiotherapy Game for Knee Rehabilitation”, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2018: Institutional Strategic Support Fund Welcome Trust Public Engagement Proof-of-Concept award, “Stakeholder evaluation of a sensor-based movement toolkit intervention for physiotherapy of knee conditions: an all Wales approach”, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2018: Research capacity building collaboration Wales, “The patient experience of a biomechanically informed movement feedback approach to physiotherapy using wearable sensor technology”, (Involvement: Collaborator).
  • 2018: Arthritis Research UK, ARUK Biomechanics and Bioengineering Centre, (Involvement: Collaborator).
  • 2017: HCARE Strategic Development Fund, “Wearable Technology”, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2017: Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities, “Evaluation of Feasibility of the Wearable Motion Sensors Technology for Physiotherapy”, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2016: Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fund, “Effects of cognitively-engaging self-paced virtual reality treadmill on gait performance”, (Involvement: PI).
  • 2015: Support to Research and Technological Development & Innovation initiatives and Strategies Fund (European Union research funding scheme) in Jordan, “Virtual Reality Based Motor Control Learning for People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study”,  (Involvement: was co-applicant).
  • 2015: Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering and Repair undergraduate student summer placement fund, “Evaluation of Feasibility of the Microsoft Kinect sensor for rehabilitation”,  (Involvement: PI).
  • 2014: Children & Young People's Research Network, “Virtual Rehabilitation for Children with cerebral Palsy”,  (Involvement: PI).
  • 2014: Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities, “See How You Move”, (Involvement: co-applicant).

Teaching

Current Teaching Profile:

  • Applied technology in clinical human movement analysis (CPD course).
  • HC1119 – Physiotherapy Theory, Physical Activity and Exercise (undergraduate level).
  • HC3118 – Research 2 (undergraduate level).
  • HCT117 - Physiotherapy Empirical Dissertation (MSc level)
  • HC2218 - Developing Professional Practice and Research (undergraduate level).

Previous Teaching Profile:

  • HCT226 - Clinical Kinaesiology and Tissue Pathology (MSc level)
  • HCT118- Research methods (MSc level)
  • ENGM194- Rehabilitation Engineering module (MSc level).

Project Supervision: I supervise MSc students on the dissertations module:

  • Current MSc projects:
    • Andrew McCluskey: Using a Virtual Reality Environment to Assess Road Crossing Safety and Self-Evaluation of Performance for those with Traumatic Brain Injury: A Series Case Study
    • Manali Kulkarni: Is the Movement Analysis Assessment Based in Laboratory Settings Comparable to the Assessment Outside the Laboratory Setting?
    • Mehareen Nishandar: Difference Between the Impact of Immersive and Non-Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Rehabilitation Systems on Functional Outcomes
    • Yi-An Chen: The Impact of Virtual Reality-Based Balance Exercise for People with Knee Pain
    • Li Qiao: Effects of Virtual Reality on Gait Analysis on Self-Paced Treadmill.
    • Abdulaziz Nafea: Estimated Lower Limbs Muscles Activity During Incline Self-Paced Treadmill
    • Danyang Chen: Effects of Insoles on the Variability of Spatial-Temporal and ROM During Self-Paced Treadmill
    • Xinyi Zhou: User Agreement on Reporting Movement Compensation Strategies During Walking, Squatting, Stair Climbing and Jumping Using a Standardised Reporting Template.
  • Past MSc projects:
    • Rawan Al Juaid: Does Prior-Experienced Dual-Task Walking Affect the Symmetry of the Ground Reaction Forces and Walking Speed of Able-Bodied Male Adults?
    • Palida Techakhot: A study to evaluate centre of mass and pelvis movement while complete a virtual rehabilitation game when controlled using a few markers mimicking sensor compared to the pelvis segment markers set
    • Alhanouf Almutairi: Comparing the Lower Limb Symmetry Index Between Healthy Subjects and ACLR Patients Throughout the Movement Cycle of Double Leg Squat in the Sagittal Plane Using Inertial Measurement Units (IMU)
    • Ahmed Alrehaili: The Effect of Slope Walking on the Spatiotemporal Parameters and Gait Variability of Healthy Young Adults Using the Gait Real-Time Analysis Interactive Lab System
    • Chenmiao Lu: Effects of Self-Paced Incline Treadmill Walking On Gait Stability Ratio and Lower Limb Muscles Activation Level in Healthy Subjects
    • Turki Alsaedi: Concurrent Validity and Interrater Reliability of Avatar Recording in Scoring the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) to Assess Jump-Landing Movement Patterns: An Approach to Physiotherapy Practice.
    • Alaa Alqurafi: The Effect of a Cognitive Dual Task on the Dynamic Balance of Healthy Young Adults: An experimental Study
    • Yi Wan: The Effect of Visual Feedback On Performance of the Star Excursion Balance Test
    • Jianqiao Wang: Effects of Sloped Surface On Lower-Extremity Muscle Activity During Double-Leg Squat
    • Shaima Aljahdali: The Effect of Off-The-Shelf Shock-Absorbing Insoles On Knee Biomechanics During Walking in Healthy Subjects: An Implication for Knee Osteoarthritis
    • Hilal Al Balushi: The Effect of Working Memory Task On Kinematics and Kinetics Gait Parameters in Healthy Adults.
    • Abdulrhman Mashabi: The Effect of an Augmented Cognitive Inhibition Task On Spatial-Temporal Gait Parameters in Healthy Adults
    • Maria Hirayama: The Effect of Sloped Surfaces on Motor Control of Gait in Healthy Young Adults Using The GRAIL System.
    • Muhamad Abdul Latir: The Dual Task Effect of Conversating While Walking On Gait Spatiotemporal Parameters in Healthy Young Adults.
    • Abdulmajed Alzaid: The Differences in Knee Kinetic and Kinematic Movement Patterns between Performing a Lunge Exercise and a Lunge Whilst Performing a Dual-Task.
    • Nodoka Kimura: The Effect of Dual-Task on Walking in Young Adults.
    • Omowumi Dairo: Biomechanical Assessment of Walking in Healthy Adults during Obstacles Negotiation.

Biography

I obtained my PhD in Rehabilitation Engineering from the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at University of Surrey in 2013. During my PhD studies, I have had considerable research experience in several biomedical engineering fields including Virtual Rehabilitation and Clinical Movement Analysis. This allowed me to develop the Surrey Virtual Rehabilitation System (SVRS) from basic components including software development and a Real-time Treadmill Speed Control Algorithm, which is considered appropriate for gait rehabilitation protocols.

Committee Involvement:

  • Chair of Membership & Nominations of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR).
  • Academic Researcher Representative of the School of Healthcare in the Cardiff University Research Staff Association (CURSA).
  • Member of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)’s Academic Advisory Group.
  • Member of Athena Swan Sub Committee, Cardiff School of Healthcare Sciences.
  • Board Member of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation.

Referee Assignments

I have acted as peer reviewer for the following academic journals:

  • Research in Developmental Disabilities
  • IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
  • Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.

I acted as a reviewer for the following peer-reviewed international conferences:

  • The 11th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies with ArtAbilitation
  • The WSEAS International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Biomedical Informatics.
  • The 3rd IEEEAM International conference on Circuits, Systems, Control, Signals.
  • The 1st International Conference on Health Science and Biomedical Systems.

Conference Scientific Committee Memberships

  • The 11th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies with ArtAbilitation.
  • The 6th WSEAS International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Biomedical Informatics.
  • Workshop on Game Abilitation and Virtual Reality Healthcare.

Previous Work History

  • Postgraduate Researcher, University of Surrey.
  • Teaching Assistant, University of Surrey.
  • Laboratory Engineer, Yarmouk University.

Honours and awards

  • Prize of Best Poster presentation, 10th International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (2013).
  • Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2010)
  • PhD Studentship from University of Surrey (2008 to 2012).
  • Royal Hashemite Undergraduate Studentship (2000 to 2005).

Professional memberships

  • International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR).
  • The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).
  • The Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER).
  • Welsh Arthritis Research Network (WARN).
  • Jordan Engineering Association (JEA).

Committees and reviewing

  • Academic Researcher Representative of the School of Healthcare in the Cardiff University Research Staff Association.
  • HCARE Athena Swan Sub Committee.

Supervisions

I am interested in discussing the possibility of supervising research projects related to any of my research interest areas: virtual reality applications in rehabilitation including tele-rehabilitation and biofeedback; movement analysis and cognitive in dementia and traumatic brain injury; movement adaptations to slope walking; and clinical applications of related integrated technology for assessment and intervention.

If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application here.

Current supervision

Riham Abuzinadah

Riham Abuzinadah

Research student