Professor Natalie Vanicek

Professor Natalie Vanicek

Professor of Clinical Biomechanics

+44 (0)1482 463607 | N.Vanicek@hull.ac.uk

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • School of Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Related groups

  • Sport Health and Exercise Science (SHES)

Qualifications

  • BSc (University of Portsmouth)
  • MSc
  • PhD / DPhil

Summary

Natalie Vanicek is a Professor of Clinical Biomechanics and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). She is Associate Editor in Sports Medicine and Biomechanics for the Journal of Sports Sciences and Associate Member of the British Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in limb Absence Rehabilitation (BACPAR).

Natalie moved to the University of Hull from Canada in 2004 and also spent time working at the University of Sydney. She is passionate about her research in clinical gait analysis and musculoskeletal biomechanics. Natalie’s work is aimed at reducing falls, improving function and quality-of-life, and attenuating musculoskeletal decline through exercise among individuals with limited mobility.

Much of her focus has been on people with a lower limb amputation, and improving their mobility with specialised community exercise programmes and prosthetic prescription. She developed the KEEP MOVING community exercise programme for people living with limb loss in Hull https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OakTU9fvNG4 . KEEP MOVING won the 2024 Disability Sport Yorkshire Cyril Villiers Organisation award. It is also being delivered online to people across the country in partnership with the Limbless Association, the largest national charity for people living with limb loss.

Natalie also led on the NIHR-funded STEPFORWARD trial, investigating a self-aligning prosthetic ankle-foot vs. a non-self-aligning ankle-foot for older adults with a transtibial amputation.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Special issue themes: Markerless motion analysis in sport and exercise

Bini, R. R., Moura, F. A., Santiago, P. R. P., Colyer, S., & Vanicek, N. (2024). Special issue themes: Markerless motion analysis in sport and exercise. Journal of sports sciences, 42(1), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2317652

'A whole different ball game': the qualitative experience of older adults with a transtibial amputation and the use of a self-aligning prosthetic ankle-foot on the STEPFORWARD trial

Mitchell, N., Leggett, H., Watson, J., McDaid, C. T., Barnett, C., Twiste, M., & Vanicek, N. (2023). ‘A whole different ball game’: the qualitative experience of older adults with a transtibial amputation and the use of a self-aligning prosthetic ankle-foot on the STEPFORWARD trial. Disability and Rehabilitation, https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2023.2199222

Relationship between stair ascent gait speed, bone density and gait characteristics of postmenopausal women

Dostan, A., Dobson, C. A., & Vanicek, N. (2023). Relationship between stair ascent gait speed, bone density and gait characteristics of postmenopausal women. PLoS ONE, 18(3), Article e0283333. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283333

Agreement and relationship between measures of absolute and relative intensity during walking: A systematic review with meta-regression

Warner, A., Vanicek, N., Benson, A., Myers, T., & Abt, G. (2022). Agreement and relationship between measures of absolute and relative intensity during walking: A systematic review with meta-regression. PLoS ONE, 17(11), Article e0277031. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277031

Grant Abt

Biomechanical differences between ablebodied and spinal cord injured individuals walking in an overground robotic exoskeleton

Hayes, S. C., White, M., Wilcox, C. R. J., White, H. S. F., & Vanicek, N. (2022). Biomechanical differences between ablebodied and spinal cord injured individuals walking in an overground robotic exoskeleton. PLoS ONE, 17(1), Article e0262915. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262915

Steve Hayes

Research interests

Using biomechanical tools of analysis, Natalie investigates movement patterns in individuals with altered lower limb mechanics as a result of ageing, disease and trauma. To date, her research has focused primarily on working with vascular-related lower limb amputees, people with intermittent claudication caused by peripheral arterial disease, and individuals with osteoporosis.

Natalie collaborates with colleagues from a variety of disciplines such as physiotherapists, vascular consultants, medical engineers and psychologists. This research has attracted external funding from the National Institute for Health Research, Sport England, Active Humber, Circulation Foundation, British Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Amputee Rehabilitation (BACPAR), BUPA Foundation and Osteoporosis Research in East Yorkshire (OSPREY).

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Active Humber

Funder

Sport England

Grant

£5,220.00

Started

28 November 2022

Status

Ongoing

Project

Keep Moving – Nottingham expansion

Funder

Sport England

Grant

£2,900.00

Started

1 December 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Virtual Keep Moving programme - collaboration with Limbless Association

Funder

Limbless Association

Grant

£3,285.00

Started

1 August 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Patient acceptability to a novel prosthetic device: A randomised feasibility study in older patients with vascular-related amputations and multimorbidities

Funder

NIHR National Institute for Health Research

Grant

£59,560.00

Started

1 April 2018

Status

Complete

Project

Maximising musculoskeletal function for falls prevention in lower-limb amputees

Funder

British Assoc of Chartered Physiotherapists in Amputee Rehabilitation (BACPAR)

Grant

£3,250.00

Started

1 May 2015

Status

Complete

Project

Ideas Fund - Menopause 'hull support network

Funder

Wellcome Trust

Grant

£3,768.00

Started

1 September 2021

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Knee Pain Method Validation Collaboration

Funder

Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare

Grant

£96,138.00

Started

1 January 2016

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Prof Vanicek welcomes MSc/PhD applications in the areas of:

1) clinical gait analysis

2) falls prevention

3) evaluation of community exercise for people with limited mobility

Completed PhD students include:

1) Cleveland Barnett (PhD, 2011)

2) Lisa Alcock (PhD, 2013)

3) Stephanie King (PhD, 2015)

4) Amartya Ganguly (PhD, 2015)

5) Marnee McKay (PhD, 2017)

6) Ali Dostan (PhD, 2019)

7) Zoe Schafer (PhD, 2019)

8) Grace O'Carroll (PhD, 2019)

9) Stephen Hayes (PhD, 2020)

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