Researchers in the Ball State University Biomechanics Lab are close to securing $1.2 million from the Department of Defense to help fund research into musculoskeletal injuries, which cost the military an estimated $10 million annually.
Eric Dugan, the director of the Biomechanics Lab, said the research would help solidify Ball State's place in biomechanical research on a national level.
"It's an extension of some of the things we're already doing ... it's a high profile project that has military significance," Dugan said.
Dugan said the Department of Defense was granting the money to the university so the lab could perform research that would help the military better understand injuries to the tibia bone, which is in the lower leg.
"Musculoskeletal injuries are a very large problem for the U.S. military, [during] peace or wartime," he said. "Tibial stress fractures are one of the key issues."
Dugan said the research would help save the military a significant amount of lost training time from when trainees are injured with serious leg injuries. The saved costs of providing health care for the soldiers also will be substantial, he said.
The research will consist of two key elements, Dugan said. The lab will use motion-capture technology to record the mechanics of the lower leg.
Dugan said MRI technology also would be used to understand the internal workings of the leg. New software will then be employed to combine the two sets of data and give researchers a fresh look at several aspects of the tibia.
Dugan said the military would review the research to help decide if they should do things such as change their training protocol to decrease the chances of injuries.
Media Relations Manager Marc Ransford said the grant was still in the proposal stages, and the university was in the process of securing the money.
"The money is coming," Ransford said, "but right now [the proposal] is under review by the Department of Defense."
If the grant is finalized, it would be the first grant Ball State has ever received from the Department of Defense, Dugan said.
"Other departments within our unit have received funding through such things as NASA before," Dugan said.
Some of the grant's money will go toward making some minor upgrades to the lab's facilities, Dugan said, but most of it will help to pay the additional personnel that the project will require.
"We'll be collaborating with different folks, specifically for the MRI part of the research," he said.
Dugan said the lab was excited to be involved in important research, and he hoped to begin research next spring.
"We have a history of applied research, specifically in human movement," Dugan said. "We have the skills and the people to make this happen."
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