Mark G Carpenter

		Office:	Osborne Centre Unit I - Room 213
		Phone:	604-822-8614
		Fax:	604-822-9451
		Lab:	Neural Control of Posture & Movement Laboratory
		Lab Ph:	604-827-3482
		EMail:	mark.carpenter@ubc.ca
Canada Research Chair
Assistant Professor

Background

B.Sc. Honours (Kinesiology), University of Waterloo, 1996; M.Sc. (Kinesiology), University of Waterloo, 1998; Ph.D. (Kinesiology), University of Waterloo, 2001; NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 2004

Specialization

Neural Control of Movement, Postural Control, Fear of Falling, Balance Disorders

Courses Taught

To be announced.

Research

The first objective of my research is to identify the neural, musculo-skeletal and psychological factors that contribute to balance deficits and falls associated with age, Parkinson’s disease, vestibular loss and spinal cord injury. The second objective is to identify optimal exercise, training and treatment strategies to improve age and disease-specific balance deficits and reduce the occurrence and impact of falls. The Neural Control of Posture and Movement Laboratory features a comprehensive approach to studying dynamic control of balance by combining various neuro-physiological and biomechanical techniques, including surface and intra-muscular electromyography, 3D full-body motion analysis and force measurement coupled with quantitative and qualitative assessment of perceived and physiological effects of fear and anxiety. Virtual reality will be used to manipulate balance-related anxiety and recreate the environmental conditions that lead to falls in everyday life. Virtual environments will be integrated with a unique moving balance platform capable of producing unexpected multi-directional balance disturbances.

Publications

Selected Peer Reviewed Publications

1. Carpenter MG, Frank JS, Adkin AL, Paton A, Allum JHJ. Influence of postural anxiety on postural reactions to multi-directional surface rotations. J Neurophys 2004; 92:3255-3265

2. Carpenter MG, Allum JHJ, Honegger F, Adkin AL, Bloem BR. Postural abnormalities to multidirectional stance perturbations in Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2004; 75:1245-1254

3. Allum JHJ, Carpenter MG, Honegger F, Adkin AL, Bloem BR. Age-dependent variations in the directional sensitivity of balance corrections and compensatory arm movements in man. J Physiol 2002; 542:643-663

4. Bloem BR, Allum JHJ, Carpenter MG, Verschuuren JJGM, Honegger F. Triggering of balance corrections and compensatory strategies in a patient with total leg proprioceptive loss. Exp Brain Res 2002; 142:91-107

5. Carpenter MG, Allum JHJ, Honegger F. Vestibular influences on human postural control in combinations of pitch and roll planes reveal differences in spatiotemporal processing. Exp Brain Res 2001; 140:95-111

6. Carpenter MG, Frank JS, Silcher CP. The influence of postural threat on the control of upright stance. Exp Brain Res 2001; 138:210-218

7. Carpenter MG, Frank JS, Winter DA, Peysar GW. Sampling duration effects on centre of pressure summary measures. Gait Posture 2001; 13:35-40

8. Carpenter MG, Allum JHJ, Honegger F. Directional sensitivity of stretch reflexes and balance corrections for normal subjects in the roll and pitch planes. Exp Brain Res 1999; 129:93-113

9. Carpenter MG, Frank JS, Silcher CP. Surface height effects on postural control: a hypothesis for a stiffness strategy for stance. J Ves Res 1999; 9:277-286

Book Chapters and Review Articles

10. Allum JHJ, Carpenter MG. A speedy solution for balance and gait analysis: angular velocity measured at the centre of body mass. Curr Opin Neurol 2005; 18:15-21

11. Allum JHJ, Carpenter MG, Honegger F. Directional aspects of balance corrections in man. IEEE Eng Med Biol Mag 2003; 22:37-47

12. Allum JHJ, Carpenter MG, Bloem BR. Balance control and protective arm and trunk movements in the elderly. In Latash M, Levin MF. eds. Progress in Motor Control: Effects of Age, Disorder, and Rehabilitation. Illinois, Human Kinetics 2003; vol 3:183-206

13. Allum JHJ, Carpenter MG, Adkin AL. Balance control analysis (BCA) as a method of screening and identifying balance deficits. Ann N Y Acad Sc 2001; 942:413-427

14. Allum JHJ, Bloem B, Carpenter MG, Hadders-Algra M, Hulliger M. Proprioceptive control of posture. A review of new concepts. Gait Posture 1998; 8:214-242

Invited Presentations

15. Carpenter MG, Thorstensson A, Cresswell AG (2004) Neuro-mechanical responses are influenced by the acceleration-deceleration interval of a balance perturbation. European Society of Biomechanics, Den Bosch, The Netherlands

16. Carpenter, MG, Allum, JHJ, Honegger F (1997) Influence of stimulus velocity on human postural responses in the pitch and roll planes. International Society of Posture and Gait Meeting, Paris, France

17. Carpenter, MG, Allum, JHJ, Honegger F (1997) New uses of dynamic posturography for quantifying the directional sensitivity of vestibulo-spinal and other balance deficits. New Objective Tests in Clinical Audiology and Neuro-Otology Workshop, Warsaw, Poland