New study investigating the effect of foot progression angle modifications on growth-related mechanical stimuli

Willi Koller, Elias Wallnöfer, Laura Rathmair, Clara Egner, Kevin Kitir und Hans Kainz von der Neuromechanics Research Group haben kürzlich im Rahmen des von der Europäischen Union geförderten INSIDE-BONE-Projekts eine Studie veröffentlicht. Die Studie untersuchte pilotartig die Durchführbarkeit eines personalisierten Gangtrainings und analysierte dessen Einfluss auf die Belastungen in den femoralen Wachstumsfugen bei Kindern.

Die Teilnehmenden gingen auf dem kürzlich angeschafften AMTI Tandem-Laufband mit unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen von Einwärts- und Auswärtsrotation der Füße, wobei Größe und Orientierung der Gelenkkontaktkräfte zwischen den Bedingungen verglichen wurden. Zudem wurde ein neuer Workflow zur Personalisierung muskuloskelettaler Modelle auf Basis von MRT-Aufnahmen entwickelt, und es wurde eine Finite-Elemente-Analyse eingesetzt, um die Spannungen innerhalb der Wachstumsfuge zu visualisieren.

Celebrating 1 Year of INSIDE-BONE!

The ERC Project's kickoff meeting was on April 2nd, 2025. 

This year, we celebrated our project's one year anniversary by having dinner together with our project partners Ing. Dr. Andreas Kranzl (Orthopedic Hospital Speising), Tim Emmenegger PhD, and Dr. med. univ. Suren Jengojan (both from the Medical University of Vienna).

Status Data Collection

Session 1 complete!
Session 2 starts November 2026

Die Presse Features ERC Project “Inside-Bone”

Die Presse has published an article highlighting INSIDE-BONE, the ERC-funded project lead by Dr. Hans Kainz. The project investigates how mechanical loading influences bone growth in children, with a focus on understanding and preventing torsional deformities of the femur. Using motion analysis, MRI data, and advanced modelling, the team aims to predict how bones grow and to identify early signs of pathological development. In the long term, Inside-Bone seeks to reduce the need for corrective surgery by enabling preventive measures such as personalized real-time gait feedback.

PhaNuSpo Retreat

At the annual PhaNuSpo Retreat in Frankenfels, Lower Austria, many PhD students, as well as postdocs and professors from the University of Vienna, took part. There were exciting and inspiring talks, including one on science communication by Ulrike Felt, and three PhD graduates shared their career paths and provided valuable insights into starting a professional career.

During the poster presentations on day 1, Alexander Pürzel and Clara Egner won the Best Poster Award. The retreat was also a great opportunity not only to network and exchange ideas within the field of biomechanics, but also with other disciplines (pharmacy & nutrition), and to get to know the team better at a get-together

INSIDE-BONE at the iSi Health Conference and Summer School

In September 2025, Clara and Kevin of the INSIDE-BONE team went to KU Leuven, Belgium, to represent our Project at the iSi Health Conference and Summer School. The topic "digital twins in healthcare" was discussed not only regarding research and methods, but also in ethical and regulatory aspects. This highlights the whole path to realizing the application of newly developed methods, in order to advance healthcare and ultimately help patients. We were happy to be invitied as a partner project for this collaborative event! Thanks to the organizers and fellow researchers! :)

Brand-new AMTI-Treadmill in our Biomechanics Lab!

Thanks to the ERC grant secured by Hans Kainz for the INSIDE-BONE project, our Biomechanics Lab has a valuable new addition. The AMTI Tandem Treadmill is a Force Plate-Instrumented Treadmill with an inclination of up to 25% grade, reversible belts for uphill and downhill testing two independent force platforms.

It was installed in summer 2025 and is coupled with our old Vicon Nexus System for a new era of 3D motion capture. We are looking forward to testing and using the treadmill not only in ongoing projects like INSIDE-BONE, but also future studies.

ESMAC Conference 2025

From September 8-13th we had the pleasure of attending an excellent European Society for Movement Analysis in Adults and Children (ESMAC) conference in Basel.

Our group, together with collaboration partners, was proud to contribute to the scientific program with several presentations:

  • Impact of Femoral Derotation Osteotomies on Gait, Growth Plate Loading, and Femoral Growth Trajectories in Children with Idiopathic Torsional Deformities
    presented by Willi Koller, co-authored by Andreas Kranzl, Gabriel T. Mindler, Martin Svehlik, Arnold Baca, Hans Kainz
    doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2025.07.133
  • Influence of Anthropometric Variation in Femur and Tibia Length on Muscle-Tendon Length During Walking
    presented by Markus Astl, co-authored by Willi Koller, Andreas Kranzl, Brian Horsak, Hans Kainz
    doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2025.07.028
  • Combining Immobilization and Activity to Influence Calf Muscle Morphology in Children with Cerebral Palsy: Randomized Controlled Trial Using 3D Ultrasound
    Presented by Martin Svehlik, co-authored by Annika Kruse, Bernhard Guggenberger, Markus Tilp, Nina Mosser, Andreas Habersack
    doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2025.07.254
  • Frontal Knee Angle Range-of-Motion as Indicator for Dynamic Leg Alignment in Healthy People During Level Walking
    presented by Klaus Widhalm, co-authored by Harald Penasso, Sebastian Durstberger, Lukas Maul, Peter Putz, Hans Kainz, Peter Augat
    doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2025.07.290

The conference sparked inspiring discussions and—as always—we returned with many new ideas to pursue.