ABC News plans to feature AHS kinesiology research
The national ABC morning news program, "Good Morning America," will be on location at AHS on Wednesday, May 13 to broadcast live from the lab of kinesiology professor Mark Grabiner, PhD. As part of the weather segments airing at 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. CDT, the broadcast will feature GMA's weather anchor Sam Champion, reporting on Grabiner's renowned research into how people can prevent themselves from falling when they slip or trip.
During the broadcast, Champion himself will simulate the experience of a research participant by getting strapped into a safety harness and being "slipped" on air. The simulation will lead into an extended news segment on Grabiner's work, which was taped in the lab on May 1.
During the May 1 taping, surrounded by cameramen, soundmen, producers and assistants, Grabiner couldn't have been more comfortable. Already he is an internationally recognized expert in the field of trip, slip and fall research, having been studied human falls for some 20 years.
While information about how to avoid devastating falls is always useful to the general public, the segment comes at a particularly good time for Grabiner. He and his team recently won a $900,000 CDC grant to recruit 300 women volunteers, aged 65 and older, to expand their research.
The team's hypothesis is that, with a just a few weeks of conditioning to re-learn ways to recover balance, many older people could avoid serious falls. Volunteers will be monitored twice a month for one year after the training ends for incidence and circumstances of falls.
An estimated 30 million older Americans suffer from falls each year. Some are deadly; others cause serious injury like hip and spinal fractures that run up tens of billions of dollars in medical costs nationally. Even lesser injuries can be painful, debilitating and costly.
If you’re a woman age 65 or older who is interested in volunteering for the study, contact Noah Rosenblatt at (312) 996-2747 or nrosenbl@uic.edu. Information about the program can also be found at www.uic.edu/ahs/biomechanics.
