Caroline Stewart

Biography

Following my PhD in Bioengineering at Strathclyde University on ‘Swing Phase Control in the Trans-Femoral Amputee’, in 1995 I became a Clinical Engineer at the Orthotic Research & Locomotor Assessment Unit (ORLAU), Movement Analysis Service, based at The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Oswestry. My role there includes:

• Development of a musculoskeletal research programme
• Provision of engineering support for clinical and technical research projects
• Contribution of engineering expertise to the routine measurement and assessment of patients
• Design and implementation of quality assurance tests
• Teaching and training of clinical and technical staff
• Overall management of ORLAU, including current services and future planning.

Following many years of collaboration between ORLAU and researchers at Keele University I became an Honorary Keele Research Fellow in 2010 and began working for Keele on a part time basis in 2013.  I do one day a week for the School of Medicine, researching the biomechanics of the lower limb.  I also contribute to the medical humanities SSC programme specialising in poetry.

Research and scholarship

My research is based at ORLAU, part of the RJ&AH Hospital in Oswestry.

My main interests include:

• Understanding normal and pathological gait patterns
• The use of orthotic devices during gait and in the treatment of contractures
• Prosthetic gait
• Modelling the human musculoskeletal system
• The treatment of gait disorders in cerebral palsy and other neurological, neuromuscular and orthopaedic conditions.

Further information

Professional and Committee Work