Monfort Family Human Performance Labratory

The Monfort Family Human Performance Laboratory will be utilized for numerous lab courses, clinical education Saunders courses, along with on-going research projects. The facility houses state-of-art equipment that provides a variety of physiological and biomechanical analysis for students, faculty & staff, and community members. Faculty, staff and students will be utilizing the lab for various research projects.

Think your golf swing might be a bit off? Come and visit us! Baseball swing need to be tweaked? With our slow motion cameras, you will be able to see your body positioning millisecond to millisecond! Bod Pod, force plates and a treadmill are all vital parts of the Monfort Family Human Performance Laboratory.

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For Further Information:

Website: Monfort Family Human Performance Lab

Phone: 970.248.1635

Fax: 970.248.1980

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We would like to welcome our new Monfort Family Human Performance Laboratory Director ~ Dr. William (Bill) Sands

Wm Sands

Dr. William (Bill) Sands was the Recovery Center Leader and former Head of Sport Biomechanics and Engineering for the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously, he served as Senior Sport Physiologist at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center in New York. He has over 35 years of experience in Olympic sports. Dr. Sands has served as an associate professor at the University of Utah’s Department of Exercise and Sport Science and Co-Director of the Motor Behavior Research Laboratory with adjunct appointments in Bioengineering and Physical Therapy. He was the Department Chair of Exercise Science & Sports Medicine at California Lutheran University and Director of the Human Performance Laboratory. Other positions include: Director of Research and Development for USA Gymnastics and Director of Sport Sciences in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during their preparation for their first hosting of the Commonwealth Games. He has chaired the United States Elite Coaches Association for Women’s Gymnastics for over 30 years, written 17 books, received over $1/4 million in grants and contracts, and published over 200 articles on sport performance. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and is certified as an Athlete Recovery Specialist, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Wilderness EMT, a CPR and First Aid Instructor and several certifications in emergency communications and search and rescue. Dr. Sands, a former All-American, MVP, Co-Captain, and NAIA Gymnast of the Year, was also a World Championship coach in gymnastics and produced several Olympians, more than a dozen national team members, and many World Championship team members. His primary service and research interests lie in athlete recovery, electromyography, training monitoring, and strength and power performance. He is married with one daughter.

Human Performance Lab - Research Projects

Altitude Physiology

Dr. Leadbetter maintains an ongoing agenda for studying the effects of altitude on exercise. Mesa State is one of a small number of labs in the United States with a hypobaric chamber. Students in Exercise Physiology Research Club (EPRC) have the opportunity to participate in Dr. Leadbetter's research or initiate their own projects through the "Structured Research" class.

Hypobaric Chamber

Dr. Gig Leadbetter recently submitted two research investigations on the effectiveness of ginkgo biloba on acute mountain sickness (AMS) and the effectiveness of low dose acetazolamide on preventing AMS.

Other research topics studied through the EPRC club have been moutain bike training differences between stationary lab cycles and training on trails outside the lab, performance changes with exposure to intermittent high altitude exposure in a hypobaric chamber and physiological responses of wildland firefighters with and without gear when escaping to safety zones.

Biomechanics & Sports Science

This video shows the impact of a former Olympic gold medalist in taekwondo with a newly developed scoring vest that is being tested for use in competition. Note that speed of the video is 1000 frames or fields per second and that this high speed was required in order to prevent blurring of the foot as it struck the vest. The vest was placed on a standard heavy boxing bag. These kinds of studies and the use of high-speed video help the biomechanist and sport scientist "see" what is actually happening during very high-speed movements. This type of technology can be used to freeze the moment of ball contact with a bat, the flight of an arrow as it leaves a bow, and the behavior of other body and sport object movements.

Thermal imaging is used by the Human Performance Research laboratory to identify areas of temperature differences. In the search for injury, sometimes even before the injury becomes overtly symptomatic, thermal imaging can identify inflammation as a co-factor of injury due to the coupling of inflammation with increased temperature. In this video, light is hot and dark is cold. Thus, the areas of potential inflammation and underlying injury show up as whiter than the surrounding tissue. It is a fairly simple matter to palpate (press on) each of the "hot areas" searching for reports of pain. In the video shown here, nearly all of the hot spots resulted in painful reports. This information is recorded as a computer image file and turned over to the medical team supporting the athlete.

The high-speed video shown here was taken at 500 frames or fields per second. The athlete was troubled by shin splints on the right leg. Observe the rate of movement and the result of foot impact on the shaking of lower leg musculature. Although subtle, the right foot contacts the medial (inside edge) of the rear foot before the left foot. This difference is more graphic in an accompanying video showing pressures on the soles of the feet. The Human Performance Research Lab uses this kind of information in gait analysis for walking and running. Shoe, orthotic, and technique can be changed in facilitate comfort and performance.

Tekscan refers to a technology that uses thin sole of the feet sensors. Each sensor has approximately 1000 pressure/force sensors that mpa the pressures of the impact of a step. If you watch the right foot, you'll notice that the inside of the foot receives higher and earlier forces than the left foot. This difference during a 1000 steps per mile can ultimately result in shin splints. This information is turned over to the medical team supporting this athlete in order to facilitate their work with this athlete.