Sport Medecine Research Laboratory / Public Health / Research Departments / CRP-Santé

Sport Medecine Research Laboratory

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The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory within the Department of Public Health is focused on the impact of movement, training and sports, as well as inactivity on healthy and injured or ill individuals, in order to provide decisive information for prevention, therapy, rehabilitation, and sports-related issues.

The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory currently develops two major lines of research. The first is on the epidemiology and prevention of sports injuries. The laboratory has developed a novel sports injury surveillance system, termed TIPPS (Training and Injury Prevention Platform for Sports) based on information technology. This system monitors an athlete’s overall training characteristics and injury risk, allowing for real-time feedback based on objective risk indicators, as well as a complete description of the sports injury problematic. The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory has successfully applied this approach among various sport contexts, thus providing invaluable information for athletes of all practice levels, trainers, coaches, physical therapists, medical doctors, and decision makers.

The second main area of research concerns the optimization of the rehabilitation following knee soft tissue injuries, with a particular focus on anterior cruciate ligament ruptures. The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory works in close collaboration with clinicians at the Clinique d’Eich of the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL) in order to develop and validate new evaluation tools and therapeutic procedures. The general aim is to improve the diagnosis of pathologies of the musculoskeletal system following a serious sports injury or surgery, to optimize the rehabilitation process, and to maximize patient clinical outcome.

The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory is located in the Domus Medica of the Fondation Norbert Metz near the Clinique d’Eich, providing convenient access to their biomechanics laboratory. The research group has strong ties with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and the Sports Clinic of the Clinique d’Eich (CHL), with the active involvement in the research group of Prof. Dr. Romain Seil, Prof. Dr. Axel Urhausen and Priv. Doz. Dr. Dietrich Pape. The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory is home institution for several Masters and PhD students, as well as post-doctoral fellows, and collaborates with several universities and private industries across Europe and beyond. On the national level, the laboratory has privileged partnerships with the Ministry of Sports, the Luxembourg Olympic Committee and scientific societies of sports medicine and sports physical therapy.

For more information, please visit www.tipps.lu.

Research in the field of sports medicine at the CRP-Santé started off within a single unit in 2007. It was called into life under the impulse of the leading members of the “Centre de l’Appareil Locomoteur, de Médecine du Sport et de Prévention” (CALMS) of the “Centre Hospitalier du Luxembourg” (CHL).

A significant proportion of the research work undertaken is based on a convention between the Ministerial department of Sport and the CRP-Santé. Other partners include the “Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois” (COSL), the “Ministère de la Culture, de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche” and the national scientific societies of sports medicine and sports physiotherapy.

After a series of initial projects had been accomplished with success, it was decided, in 2009, to create the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory within the Department of public health. Concomitantly, the initial group comprising one senior researcher and 3 research collaborators was enlarged by the part-time involvement of 3 members of the CALMS with both scientific and clinical involvement in orthopaedics and sports medicine. In October 2009, the group moved into the Domus Medica of the Fondation Norbert Metz near the Clinique d’Eich, thus taking advantage of the proximity to their biomechanics laboratory and to clinical activities.

The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory is headed by Daniel Theisen, PT, PhD.
Complimentary to his current research interests developed within the laboratory, Dr. Theisen’s expertise is in exercise and muscle physiology, biomechanics, and adapted sports for individuals with a disability. The results of Dr. Theisen’s research have been published extensively in high-impact, peer-reviewed international scientific journals, in chapters of medical textbooks, and as posters and oral presentations at international conferences. Dr. Theisen holds concurrent positions as Invited Professor at different universities in Belgium and in Chile. Dr. Theisen is also the Vice President of the Luxembourg Paralympic Committee.