This model illustrates the interconnected risk factors that lead to sports injuries and disorders, moving from left to right. It serves as the overarching concept encompassing Research Topics 2 through 5 below.
The Issei Ogasawara Group conducts research on sports injuries in accordance with this risk structure model. In particular, we aim to establish effective prevention methods by linking the left side of the model—psychological and cognitive factors that are difficult to quantify—with the biomechanical domain, which is more amenable to mathematical modeling. Through this integrated understanding, we pursue psychologically, cognitively, and biomechanically grounded approaches to preventing sports injuries and disorders.
By combining theoretical analysis of mathematical models of the human body based on equations of motion with motion capture data, we investigate the kinematic and kinetic features that may lead to sports injuries and disorders, as well as which movements are safer. For example, one of our findings revealed that “sudden braking using the heels” is a high-risk motion for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
We have long conducted single-legged drop landing tests as a means of evaluating dynamic postural stability in athletes. By analyzing postural sway data—such as ground reaction forces and center of pressure time series—collected during landing with force plates, we use deep learning and related techniques to: predict future risk of ACL injuries, identify hazardous landing postures, and evaluate recovery levels after ankle sprains.
On what basis do humans make movement-related decisions? Do people sometimes take physical risks in pursuit of rewards, even at the expense of bodily safety? We explore these mind–body interactions through experimental paradigms such as primitive reaching tasks and whole-body gross motor psychophysical experiments. This topic serves as a critical bridge between the psychological/cognitive domain and the biomechanical domain in our overall risk structure model, and is a major focus of our group’s research.
What kinds of psychological characteristics are linked to sports injuries and disorders? We investigate this question based on key theories in sport psychology, utilizing survey techniques such as large-scale web-based questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Our approach integrates both quantitative and qualitative data in a mixed methods framework. Some psychological patterns specific to Japanese athletes—distinct from Western populations—have also been observed, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive injury prediction and prevention strategies.
We maintain motion analysis laboratories on both Suita and Toyonaka campuses, equipped with the following systems:
