Cerebral Palsy

World Congress of Biomechanics 2026

Ally Clarke EarlyMobility, Energetics, MotorControl, News, SpinalStim , , , ,
  • Ally, Katie, and Mackenzie stand together after giving podium presentations. Ally stands to the left, and is wearing a brown sweater and has blonde hair. Katie stands in the middle, wearing a white shirt with grey suit jacket and has brown hair. Mackenzie stands to the right wearing a grey t-shirt and dark brown hair.
  • Kat and Mia stand with Elizabeth Condliffe and Erin Mannen. All women are wearing professional clothing and standing behind the presenter's table.
  • Mia stands to the right of a powerpoint slide during her presentation. The powerpoint slide depicts young children using mobility devices
  • Ally, Mackenzie, Mia, Ally, and Maddie stand on a beach at sunset.

Members of the lab road tripped to Vancouver, Canada for the World Congress of Biomechanics.

Dr. Kat Steele chaired multiple sessions and gave a presentation, “Evaluation and Optimization of Gait Dynamics Using Exoskeletons.” She and Dr. Mia Hoffman also co-hosted a special session, “Rigor, Repeatability, & FUN in Pediatric Biomechanics.”

PhD student Ally Clarke gave an oral presentation “Mediolateral Forces and Walking Stability in Children with Cerebral Palsy.” PhD student Mackenzie Pitts orally presented “Comparing Split Belt Treadmill Adaptation Rates Between Children with Cerebral Palsy and Typically Developing Peers Using Bayesian Models.” Research Scientist Engineer Katie Landwehr-Prakel had her first oral presentation, discussing “Impacts of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation on Muscle Activity and Heart Rate Responses During Walker-Based Exoskeleton Use in Children With Cerebral Palsy.” Dr. Mia Hoffman gave two presentations: “Sit, Stand, Activate! Quantifying Muscle Activity During Mobility Aid Use in Young Children With Developmental Disabilities” and “Quantifying Play Interactions: Implementation of a Digital Switch-Accessible Play Kit for Young Children Receiving Early Intervention Services.” PhD student Maddie McCreary gave a poster presentation, “Effects of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation Amplitude on Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy.” Dr. Kat Steele was honored as a 2026 ASB fellow.

Successful road trip!

Congratulations – Madeleine McCreary receives ASB travel award!

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Maddie has long brown wavy hair. She is wearing a green blazer and standing elegantly by a fireplace.

We’re excited to share that Madeleine McCreary was selected as a recipient of the ASB student travel award for her abstract titled “Effects of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation Amplitude on Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy.” Her work was recognized by the ASB community for its contribution to pediatric neuromodulation research. Congratulations, Madeleine!

Dynamic Walking 2026

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Members of the lab traveled to the base of Mt. Rainier for the Dynamic Walking Conference, where conversations ranged from hummingbird drumming to exoskeletons and robotics.

Dr. Kat Steele was selected to give a 20-minute talk, “Bayesian methods for individualized modeling with wearable data.” PhD student Ally Clarke gave a 5-minute talk on energy savings from bodyweight support in children with cerebral palsy, sharing results from our Cerebral Palsy Energetics study . PhD student Mackenzie Pitts also gave a 5-minute talk on her work from the Dynamic Motor Control study, discussing the mechanical strategies children with cerebral palsy use to adapt step length during split-belt treadmill walking.

We loved reconnecting with former lab members Dr. Michael Rosenberg, Dr. Momona Yamagami, and Tori Landrum.

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AK Clarke, AJ Ries, MH Schwartz, KM Steele (2026) Influence of body weight support on motor control in typically developing children and children with cerebral palsy

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Journal Article in Journal of Biomechanics

For children with cerebral palsy (CP), interventions that provide support like BWS treadmill training, orthoses, or walkers have been shown to improve walking speed, endurance, and/or kinematics – although responses are variable and challenging to predict.

Experimental setup. Body weight support is provided via vertical force application at the pelvis by the support system (Humotech, force controller, and overhead gantry). Electromyography was recorded bilaterally from seven lower limb muscles.

Aim: Body weight support (BWS) is often provided during rehabilitation interventions or activities of daily living with assistive devices for children with cerebral palsy (CP). How individuals alter their muscle activity and coordination in response to BWS provides insight into neuromuscular control and may inform the design of future interventions.

Methods: Children with CP (n = 12) and typically developing (TD) peers (n = 8) walked on a treadmill with 1%, 20%, 40%, and 60% BWS while electromyographic (EMG) data was recorded from 7 lower limb muscles. We computed muscle synergies from the EMG data using non-negative matrix factorization.

Results: As BWS increased, activity of support muscles like the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius decreased for both CP and TD groups. Children with CP had significantly reduced synergy complexity compared to TD peers (total variance accounted for by one synergy, tVAF1 = 76.3 for CP versus 67.4 for TD averaged across all conditions). However, synergy complexity did not change with BWS for either group.

Interpretation: Although BWS may assist mobility by reducing demand on support muscles, it does not directly modulate motor control.

Neuromechanics & Mobility Lab at the 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium

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Congratulations to the Neuromechanics & Mobility Lab undergraduates who presented their research at the University of Washington’s 29th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on May 15! From oral presentations to posters, our students shared work spanning early mobility, gait analysis, and neuromodulation — proud moment for the whole lab.

Oral Presentations

Early Intervention Providers’ Perspectives on a Switch-Accessible Play Kit Analyzed Through an Interdependence Framework Alisha Bose (mentored by Mia Hoffman)

Muscular Coactivation Analysis in Toddlers with Hypotonia Spencer Hensley (mentored by Mia Hoffman)

Poster Presentations

Real-Time Bayesian Estimation of Steady-State Oxygen Consumption During Clinical Walking Trials for Neuromuscular-Impaired Individuals David Green (mentored by Mackenzie Pitts)

Object Detection Optimization for Movement Tracking of Young Children Using Mobility Aids Katie Leija (mentored by Mia Hoffman)

Effects of Bodyweight Support on the Gait Deviation Index of Children with Cerebral Palsy Alyssa Miller (mentored by Ally Clarke)

Evaluating the Effects of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation on Perceived Walking Performance and Exertion in Children with Cerebral Palsy Quinn Mundell (mentored by Madeleine McCreary)

Huge thanks to the graduate student mentors who supported these projects, and congratulations to all our presenters on a fantastic symposium!