Mastering Movement with Technology with Linda Lancere

During episode 10 of the Beyond BAFF podcast, Tiina Pärtel, host of the podcast, sat down to talk with Linda Lancere, a Latvian researcher who consults on rehabilitation technology development.

In 2019, Linda participated in the BAFF Research Scholar program at the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, working on her postdoctoral research project with the title “Whole Body Rehabilitation for Lower Extremity Amputees by Means of Extended Reality and Advanced Wearables”.

Her BAFF project was an essential component of three-year postdoctoral research aimed at increasing the quality of life following lower extremity amputation. Today, she works as a researcher and as an Open Innovation Hub in Digital Health coordinator at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences.

Get a glimpse into our conversation with Linda in this article and find out more about her extraordinary research path and experience in the U.S. by listening to the full podcast episode.

What is your background and what made you become a researcher?

For me, the road to becoming a researcher wasn’t the most classic one.

I began my studies at the Maritime Academy, but soon it was not for me, and decided to switch to a more practical field—materials science and engineering. But it wasn’t long until I changed directions again and went to study physiotherapy to fuel my interest in medicine.

And then, a sudden offer came by. It was a 3D-printing start-up, run by BAFFers actually, where I gained important experience in R&D and management and got the first idea about participating in the BAFF program.

So many different topics and areas. Could you explain a bit about your field to people who are not familiar with it at all? 

Right now, I'm basically making people exercise, and trying to help them to be more self-aware with the help of technology.

When people exercise at my lab, they are equipped with different kinds of sensors. In my first project, those were muscle activity and also breathing sensors. Because breathing is one of the essential things when you exercise. It's the main regulator.

We put these sensors on and then we provide feedback on how you are performing in real time—was the range of motion enough, were your muscles activated, contracted enough, and so on. Usually, people get very excited when they see the data and are motivated to do more.

And how does this data help with physical therapy?

It's a question with so many layers. First of all, it’s real-time feedback because people, unfortunately, are not that self-aware on an everyday basis.

Our muscles are in three layers, the deepest ones do the work. So it's insanely hard to imagine and understand where they are. When people see this information, they become more self-aware, and the therapy itself is more effective because you can engage the correct muscles.

This data can also be used to assess the exercise quality objectively. People often do some kind of exercise and they think that the workload is hard and they have done a very good job. When in reality, the data shows that the heart rate didn't rise to the preferred level to have an actual effect on the whole body and improve health.

What do you think are the most important developments in your field today?

The biggest advancements are definitely in virtual reality and mixed reality. There are sensors that measure how you move, how tired you are, and how concentrated you are on the task. They are used in different fitness, relaxation, and other applications.

There are also many solutions for solving chronic pain, as well as those that use gamification elements. For example, I did one project together with Austrians where we developed a game for sedentary people. It functioned the following way—we set the preferred heart rate and if you don't reach it, the game is pushing you to go faster and faster.

With so many different backgrounds like you have, does it make it easier now to communicate with multiple sides (developers, business people, etc.)?

Yes, definitely. That's one of my most valuable benefits, and I'm thankful for my experience. Of course, I’ve also struggled a lot when trying to communicate with developers or translate research to business people, but now it's a lot easier.

I wish people took the initiative and tried out more things. I wish that people, any person out there, became more playful, that they would take the courage to do this, then that, and then another thing again. Because if we do that, there are a lot of benefits.

If you look back, what would be the three main things that you gained from your experience with BAFF?

First of all, it’s the people, my professor, and other colleagues, I got to meet and work with. I learned a lot of useful methods and approaches, and also just different perspectives and views on life.

The second would definitely be the fact that I had to grow a lot myself. I was there together with my two kids, so I had to take full responsibility and deal with everything all by myself.

The third one would be the culture of volunteering. I saw how different people can be and how their attitude, their kindness can have a lasting effect on society. If everyone around you, in the store, on the streets, is very kind, this positivity influences you too. People in the Baltics are different, so you can really feel the change.

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