Keeping an eye on the line

According to a PhD candidate from the Department of Mechanical Engineering ankles could hold the key to reducing knee injuries, particularly in footballers.

In a development that could revolutionise training and treatment for footballers and other athletes, Hossein Mokhtarzadeh has established that if physiotherapists concentrated their efforts on strengthening ankle muscles, the risk of serious knee injury could be reduced. 

The Carlton Football Club is now using Mr Mokhtarzadeh’s models to screen players and predict potential injuries.

Originally from Iran, Mr Mokhtarzadeh submitted his PhD earlier this year and is now working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science. His PhD supervisors were Associate Professor Peter Lee and Dr Denny Oetomo. 

Mr Mokhtarzadeh’s work looks specifically at the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and how it can be protected against injury by developing exercises for ankle muscles.

“Many elite athletes injure their ACL easily when they jump and land or run and quickly change direction.  The problem is how and why they tear it and why these very fit and young athletes get injured, especially women,” Mr Mokhtarzadeh’s says.

He says that female athletes are between 2-8 times more likely to get injured than men, due to proportionally wider hips and knees that are close together, meaning knees go more easily into a “no-return” position after landing.

During his research, Mr Mokhtarzadeh recorded and studied the act of jumping and landing.

“What I found really interesting was that everyone was looking at the knee, because this is a knee injury, whereas I looked at the whole lower limb and realised that the ankle can protect the knee as well.

“I found that the calf muscles that wrap the ankle offered the ACL ligament up to 30 per cent of its protection. It means that if you don’t use your ankle, you’re not using that 30 per cent and that means you are more likely to get injured.

“Of course the hamstring is very important for preventing an ACL injury, but I’ve found that working on the ankle can also help.”

Mr Mokhtarzadeh’s unique work led to his selection as one of 12 participants in the 2013 Fresh Science initiative for early career researchers in Australia. He was supported in his successful application by Head of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Doreen Thomas. The program provides media and communications mentorship to participants and promotes their new research to national media.

Mr Mokhtarzadeh says he had always been passionate about communicating, particularly talking about his research. He also currently presents a Persian Radio program for SBS and writes two blogs about his work, one in Persian and one in English.

“I’m the kind of person who likes to talk about the kind of research they’re doing. When I first worked for Radio back home, I had my own 30-minute show every two weeks. My boss told me you have to love to express yourself because in radio it’s just your voice, no one can see your feelings. I really like to talk about what I find and I want to share it. By communicating science, I am never alone in my lab.”

Mr Mokhtarzadeh says he has really enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of his PhD at Melbourne and that the Biomechanics group offered a very supportive environment that allowed him to work closely with collaborators from various discipline areas, including surgeons and physiotherapists.

“It was amazing to deal with these people. If I had biological questions there was someone I could ask. If I had engineering questions there were others I could talk to. It was a really collaborative environment and I’m still consulting with them.

“It’s really interesting that these days there is a trend toward multidisciplinary research. Now I work in a research centre next to the hospital and the people working here are mostly medical doctors and I’m an engineer. The things that mechanical, electrical and engineers in general can do for medical science is that we can use mathematics and physics to quantify their problems. You apply your knowledge to an area that is very tangible and you realise that your results might help a lot of people.”

Mr Mokhtarzadeh says he is now focused on progressing his research to the clinical trial stage and completing his postdoctoral work to establish his career.

“I’d like to see myself as the leader of a research group some time in the future, but I’d also like to continue to maintain a link to the media, even to the point of having my own show.”

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