Nachi Chockalingham, PhD.The biomechanics research community is a tight-knit and passionate group. Over the last few decades, few researchers have shown that passion on display quite like Nachiappan ‘Nachi’ Chockalingam, PhD.

Nachi is a professor of clinical biomechanics and the Director for Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies at the Staffordshire University in Staffordshire, England. He is also  a fellow at the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine in the United Kingdom. He has published over 630 research outputs, including 196 full research manuscripts, with interests spanning from musculo skeletal biomechanics and gait analysis, including scoliosis, foot, and footwear biomechanics.

Along with many other technologies, Nachi has been a Tekscan user over the years, and has had works published using our technology. ^1,2,3,4,5

Another duo of researchers who share this same passion are Melissa Boswell and Hannah O’Day – two biomechanics Ph.D. students at Stanford University who host the “BOOM: Biomechanics on our Minds” podcast. Their podcasts cover a variety of educational topics surrounding biomechanics, with most episodes profiling a researcher in the field.

Nachi recently sat down with Boswell and O’Day to share some of his recent research, and his contributions to regulations and standards in medicine, including the World Health Organization’s global standards for prosthetics and orthotics.

Listen Here!

References:

1. Healy A, Naemi R, Sundar L, Chatzistergos P, Ramachandran A, Chockalingam N (2018) Hallux plantar flexor strength in people with diabetic neuropathy: Validation of a simple clinical test. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2018 Aug 13;144:1-9. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2018.07.038.
2. Lisa Ann Stojmanovski Mercieca, Cynthia Formosa, Joseph N. Grima, Nachiappan Chockalingam, Ruben Gatt, Alfred Gatt (2017) Investigating the effect of padding and padding material on forefoot pressure in high heels: is auxetic foam the new material of choice? in press. Physica Status Solidi B: Basic Solid State Physics
3. Gatt A, Briffa A, Chockalingam N, Formosa C. (2016) The Applicability of Plantar Padding in Reducing Peak Plantar Pressure in the Forefeet of Healthy Adults Implications for the Foot at Risk. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. Jul;106(4):246-51. doi: 10.7547/15-025.
4. Andrea Scalpello, Alfred Gatt, Nachiappan Chockalingam (2013) A Pilot Comparison of Forefoot Plantar Pressures, in Newly Diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, and Non-Rheumatic Subjects. The Foot, 23 (4), pp. 120-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foot.2013.08.003.
5. Gatt A, Schembri-Wismayer P, Chockalingam N, Formosa C. Kinematic and Kinetic Comparison of Fresh Frozen and Thiel-Embalmed Human Feet for Suitability for Biomechanical Educational and Research Settings. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 2019 Mar;109(2):113-121. doi: 10.7547/16-130.