Trainee Innovations Showcase

The Trainee Innovations Showcase is an opportunity for trainees to share their work with members of the public, showcase that research in simple terms, and recruit participants for UHN Research studies.

The inaugural event will take place at the KITE Innovation Gallery on the first floor of Toronto Rehab-University-Centre on Oct. 9 at 1 pm. All clinical and research staff, as well as the general public, is invited to attend. 

UHN Research discoveries by the following three KITE trainees will be presented.

Davood Dadkhah (PhD Candidate)

Title: 

PostureCoach: Reducing Low Back Pain in Healthcare Workers

Description: 

PostureCoach addresses the wide spread issue of low back pain among caregivers. Our innovative wearable device, priced around $100, provides real-time feedback through gentle vibrations or audible beeps to train caregivers in adopting safer movement patterns. Studies show a significant reduction in lumbar spine flexion, with behaviors retained two months post-training. This device not only aims to protect caregivers from injury but also alleviates the dual burden on healthcare systems by preventing caregiver downtime and reducing patient numbers.  

Interactive Component: Posture Coach wearable device.

Damian Manzone (Post Doctoral Fellow) 

Title: 

Developing a home-based rehabilitation tool using augmented reality to provide hand function feedback for individuals living with spinal cord injury.

Description: 

This project aims to develop an augmented reality (AR) system that can provide hand function feedback for individuals living with spinal cord injury (SCI). With the AR system, individuals are presented with target postures for specific objects based on the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Hand Function Test. Then, the system can track their hand, compare their posture to the target posture, and provide them with visual feedback and an overall score. The overall goal is to assess if the AR system is meaningful and feasible among individuals living with SCI and potentially develop a home-based rehabilitation tool. 

Interactive Component: AR headset and videos. 

Isuru Dharmarathna (Post Doctoral Fellow)

Title:

Obtaining quantitative measures of swallowing through videofluoroscopy

Description:

Our work at the Swallowing Rehabilitation Research Laboratory at KITE primarily focuses on developing methods to quantitatively describe swallow biomechanics to study the causes and the treatments of swallowing disorders. Videofluroscopy, simply known as video x-ray is one of the most commonly used methods to visualize swallow mechanism in children and adults. Our lab, led by prof. Catriona Steele, studies videofluoroscopy to develop reference values for healthy adults and to study swallow pathophysiology related to conditions such as stroke and Parkinson's disease. Further, we are committed to expanding our understanding of the nature of videofluoroscopy technology to improve its quality as a gold standard swallowing assessment.

Interactive Component: videofluorosocopic images and clips