Sports science
New professor gets to the bottom of injury risk in sport
Prof Dr Kirsten Legerlotz // Photo Friederike von Heyden
"My research is about the connection between practical movement science and the fundamental investigation of biomechanical and physiological factors that influence the risk of injury in sport," explains the 48-year-old. She pays particular attention to gender-specific differences.
"My goal is to better understand how the body adapts so that I can develop scientifically sound recommendations that promote both athletic performance and health," says Legerlotz.
One focus is on tendopathies, i.e. diseases of the tendons due to overuse or incorrect use. The sports scientist is also researching the influence of hormones on performance and the risk of injury in girls and women, i.e. the effects of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, for example. Another focus of her work is on health promotion and optimal training management in childhood and adolescence.
About the person
Prof Dr Kirsten Legerlotz studied sports science at the German Sport University Cologne and biology at the University of Cologne. In 2006, she completed her doctorate at the Institute for Biomechanics and Orthopaedics at the German Sport University Cologne. She then worked as a researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Queen Mary University of London and the University of East Anglia in Norwich in the United Kingdom and the Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research in Switzerland. From 2014 until her move to the University of Wuppertal, she was Professor of Movement Biomechanics at the Institute of Sports Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
