Report from Career Development Award Winner Chioma Ezeajughi
1/13/2026 11:01 am
My biomechanics journey began long before I ever stepped into a motion lab. It began during my undergraduate studies in prosthetics and orthotics, especially in my second year. My first lesson in biomechanics was understanding how force is distributed across the limb when fabricating a prosthetic socket using the pressure-sensitive and pressure-tolerant areas of the leg. I also saw how a tiny adjustment with an Allen key could immediately alter a patient’s stability and gait, given that prosthetic alignment controls the path of the ground reaction force through the limb, even when those forces are not formally measured. I knew I wanted to explore biomechanics more, which led to my master’s program in Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
During my third semester, I started looking for roles that would enhance my experience before deciding whether to pursue a PhD or stay in clinical practice. I kept the search flexible, open to anything that aligned with biomechanics. That was when I saw Dr. Torry’s post on BIOMCH-L about an end-of-studies internship. I reached out to him immediately. Two months later, just when I assumed the opportunity was gone, he emailed asking if I was still interested. I said yes, completed the interview, and secured the summer internship.
While planning my move from Maryland to Illinois, I applied for the Career Development Award to help cover expenses. I had followed International Women in Biomechanics (IWB) on X (formerly Twitter) long before coming to the U.S. for graduate school, and I became a member two years ago. Since I am always looking for opportunities that can push my career forward, I applied when I saw the award announcement in the monthly newsletter. One morning, I received an email saying I had been selected for the award, sponsored by Theia Markerless, to support my travel costs.
Working in the biomechanics lab at Illinois State University was an amazing experience. The lab focuses on sports performance and injury prevention in baseball pitchers and golfers, assessments for police officers and firefighters, and gait analysis in pregnant women across different stages of gestation. I contributed to several ongoing research projects, beginning with developing a new workflow for pregnancy data that included building a Visual3D model and creating analysis pipelines. I also gained hands-on experience using the isokinetic Biodex system for muscle strength testing and the DEXA machine for body composition assessment. A major highlight of the internship was working on a modeling and simulation project to understand how different golf clubs affect muscle forces and joint loading. Through this project, I gained experience in using OpenSim for musculoskeletal modeling and simulation in golfers.
Golf places varying biomechanical demands on the body because each club produces a different swing and loading pattern. In this project, I used musculoskeletal simulation to examine how the driver, 5-iron, and 9-iron clubs influence hip and knee muscle forces and joint loading throughout the swing cycle. I evaluated the behavior of the major hip and knee muscle groups and compared how these patterns differed between the trail and lead limbs. I also analyzed the loading across the key phases of the golf swing, from backswing and downswing to ball impact and follow-through, to identify when each muscle group experiences peak demand and why certain clubs impose greater stress on the hip and knee than others. More details will be shared once the study is published. Highlights from this work have also been submitted to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and World Congress of Biomechanics (WCB) 2026 conferences.
This internship gave me far more than research and technical experience. It strengthened my coding skills, sharpened my understanding of biomechanics, and, most importantly, helped me develop a clearer sense of myself and my abilities. I learned how engaging and enjoyable research can be when you have a mentor who not only guides your work but also supports your long-term career development. I was fortunate to find such mentorship here, and it has been instrumental in helping me navigate my next steps. The skills and confidence I gained during this period will continue to shape my future research and my path toward a PhD.
If this journey has taught me anything, it’s that there is no “perfect” background for biomechanics, only passion, persistence, and a willingness to learn. My path from prosthetics and orthotics to golf simulation may appear unconventional, but each step added a skill that strengthened the next.
For anyone considering applying for the Career Development Award: apply. Even if you’re unsure about eligibility, reach out and ask.
I am grateful to IWB and Theia Markerless for supporting my internship. I would also like to thank Dr. Torry, Marcel, Samantha, the students in the lab, and Finley (pet dog) for making my time in Illinois memorable. Attached are a few photos from the experience.
Happy hour
Golfing
Finley (our pet dog)
