What is Gait Analysis | Recent News | Join Us!
About the Motion Analysis Center at Shriners
Located in Chicago, Illinois, the Motion Analysis Center at Shriners Children’s is a clinical facility that closely collaborates with the Marquette-MCW Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center. The Shriners Children’s Motion Analysis Centers are a network of 14 centers that use advanced orthopaedic technologies to assess gait kinetics and kinematics, balance, and upper extremity motion in children, with a goal of diagnosing orthopaedic abnormalities and providing advanced therapeutic recommendations for children with these disorders.
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What is Gait Analysis?
Gait analysis is a systematic evaluation of an individual’s walking pattern. The Motion Analysis Center at Shriners Hospitals for Children—Chicago analyzes gait patterns using sophisticated camera technology to analyze three-dimensional lower extremity joint motion (kinematics), force plates to analyze the forces acting on the body that influence gait (kinetics), and electromyography (EMG) to analyze muscle activation patterns. The result of these non-invasive techniques is quantitative data that can be used to identify atypical gait patterns, assist with the prescription of treatments to improve gait, and measure the effect of treatments on gait patterns.
Recent News
- Janet Le, BME graduate student from the Motion Analysis Center at Shriners Children's working under the direction of Dr. Karen Kruger, has been selected as a 2026 Best Paper Finalist at the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society (GCMAS) Annual Meeting for her work titled, "Comparison of Segmental Foot Kinematics with and without X-Ray Metrics in Pediatric Foot Deformities" (July 2026)
- Dr. Maxine Olson, BME PhD graduate from the Motion Analysis Center at Shriners Children's working under the direction of Dr. Karen Kruger, has been awarded the Kevin P. Granata Student Award at the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society (GCMAS) Annual Meeting for her presentation titled, "Are Abnormal Foot Invertor and Evertor Muscle Tendon Lengths Related to Abnormal Coronal Plane Kinematics?" (July 2026)
Join Us!
Research opportunities are available for students interested in motion analysis and the kinetics and kinematics of gait. Find further information about student research opportunities on OREC's Student Opportunities page.
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