Focused on defining the role of exercise to promote healthy aging, prevent cognitive and functional decline among seniors, the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Function Lab currently conducts two randomized controlled trials among seniors at risk for dementia to determine the effect of exercise on cognitive performance, brain function as measured by functional MRI, and physical function.

Lead PI: Teresa Liu-Ambrose

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The “Active Streets, Active People” (ASAP) is an interdisciplinary research team undertaking an innovative project funded by the Peter Wall Solutions Initiative (PWSI) and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR).  The ASAP team will evaluate the influence of street-level changes on older adult’s mobility and social interactions.  Specifically, the City of Vancouver is making substantial changes to the built environment along the Comox-Helmcken Greenway (CHG) located in Vancouver’s downtown core. The ASAP team will investigate whether travel patterns, street usage, and social opportunities are enhanced after development of the Greenway.

Lead PIs: Heather McKay, Dale Bracewell
Lead Researchers: Joanie Sims-Gould, Meghan Winters
Project Manager: Kaitlyn Gutteridge
Knowledge Broker: Callista Haggis

This research program evaluates the mobility in older adults after a hip fracture, including a description of rehabilitation and health resource utilization following discharge from hospital. It also acts to better understand barriers and enablers to getting evidence-based exercise programs for older adults into practice.

Lead PI: Maureen Ashe

Located at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, the BHRG investigates the relationship between physical activity and bone health across the lifespan including children and older populations of women who are at high risk for osteoporosis, falls and fracture.

Escalating levels of childhood inactivity threatens to substantially increase the future burden of chronic diseases such as osteoporosis but also obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, in Canada and globally [Naylor et al 2007].

As one example of knowledge translation, three government ministries united with the school community and the interdisciplinary research team to design, implement and evaluate a school-based model - Action Schools! BC (AS! BC) - to increase physical activity and healthy eating in elementary school children. Based on the positive outcomes of the AS! BC evaluation, the BC Ministry of Health committed $15 M to disseminate the model across BC. Since its inception in 2004 Action Schools! BC has been adopted by 100% of BC schools and the program benefits more than 450,000 children.

Lead PI: Heather McKay

CEMFIA represents a unique collaborative of researchers, health care providers and policy makers with a shared goal of improving the health and safety of older British Columbians. Our mandate is to enhance mobility and reduce the risk for falls and fall-related injuries among older British Columbians, in partnership with the BC Fall and Injury Prevention Coalition, the CHHM, the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, University partners, and other fall prevention stakeholders in British Columbia.

Lead PI: Vicky Scott

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The goal of the Falls Prevention Clinic is to improve patient mobility and reduce injurious falls and fracture. The clinic represents a partnership between family physicians, clinical specialists, the Centre for Hip Health & Mobility, University of British Columbia, Women’s Health Centre, and Vancouver Coastal Health.

Lead PIs: Karim Khan and Teresa Liu-Ambrose

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The application of artificial joints such as total hip implants has greatly improved the quality of life of many people suffering from ageing-related diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

There are more than a million hip and knee arthroplasty done each year in the world. Although mechanically robust, current orthopaedic implants do not last as long as expected. Clinical problems continue to emerge and challenge the medical and technological communities.

At the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, clinicians and engineers are working together to improve implant performance.

Our current research focuses on the failure mechanisms of metal-on-metal hip implants. The project studies wear, corrosion, adverse tissue reactions, and weak implant-bone integration.

We are also actively developing novel surface technologies to prevent implant-associated infections and to enhance implant-bone integration.

Research team: Clive Duncan, Donald Garbuz, Nelson Greidanus, Bassam Masri and Rizhi Wang.

The mission of the UBC Orthopaedic and Injury Biomechanics Group is to reduce the impact of human injury and orthopaedic problems through high quality, high impact and highly ethical research and to foster a world-class graduate research and educational environment.

Lead PI: Peter Cripton

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Technology for Injury Prevention in Seniors (TIPS) is a program of collaborative research between Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, the B.C. Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, and the Fraser Health Authority for the development of innovative technologies to prevent hip fractures and other fall-related injuries in older adults.

Our efforts are supported by $2.5M of team grants from CIHR, and involve an integrated set of research and demonstration projects in two participating long-term care (LTC) living facilities. Collectively, these projects address two fundamental barriers to preventing fall-related injuries in older adults: (1) the need to develop technologies (such as wearable sensors and video-based networks) for reliably detecting falls, and providing objective, real-time data on the cause and circumstances of these events; and (2) the need to develop, implement, and evaluate improved technologies (such as compliant flooring and active wearable hip protectors) for reducing the risk for injury in the event of a fall.

Lead PI: Stephen Robinovitch

The aim of the Tendon Research Group is to generate insights into the biology and pathophysiology of tendons which can be used to optimize the rehabilitation of tendinopathy.  The mission is to generate high quality scientific evidence, and to foster and engage in international collaboration with clinicians and basic scientists. The Tendon Research Group is pursuing clinically relevant questions about tendon overuse pathology at a variety levels, from cellular pathways through to patient studies.

[L-R]: Dr. Hayedeh Behzad, Dr. Alex Scott, Navi Grewal, Rouhallah Mousavizadeh, Dr. Bandar Almohimeed, Elise Huisman, Dr. Angie Fearon

Lead PI: Alex Scott

The Walk the Talk Team (WTT) evaluates how the physical and social environment is associated with older adult mobility – the physical capacity to walk or move within communities.  Mobility is the focus as it has obvious impact on health, social inclusion and quality of life outcomes in older adults.  Ultimately, the team will uncover strategies to mitigate the barriers to mobility and active living, as influenced by the physical and social environment.

The WTT team also recognize access to ‘service and amenities’ as aspects of the built environment is about community design and access to amenities. The Built Environment is community designed and the amenities it provides. A person’s physical activity and mobility, connects the urban form with the individual and public health.

Lead PIs: Heather McKay, Stirling Bryan, Joanie Sims-Gould
Managing Director: Sarah Furst

IMPAKT-HiP (Investigations of Mobility, Physical Activity, and Knowledge in Hip Pain) is a research study that will look at if hip pain is caused by certain types of physical activities, a hip deformity called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) or the combination of both. We believe that by determining the cause of hip pain we can prevent hip damage and open the door to preventing hip osteoarthritis. This ground-breaking work is led by Dr. John Esdaile, Scientific Director of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada. The research team includes 14 top-level researchers across Canada and is a 5-year, $2.5 million project funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Lead PI: Dr. John Esdaile

The HealthySteps team will evaluate the effects of exercise on walking ability, fatigue and activity in older adults with mobility limitations.  Results from this study may be used to develop programs to promote mobility, prevent disability, and maintain functional autonomy in vulnerable older adults. The HealthySteps study is a pilot study affiliated with Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, and is funded by the Drummond Foundation. This study will be active from January 2013 – March 2014.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Dawn Mackey