Üsküdar University Clinical Exercise Center Laboratory is an advanced research, testing, and application center established to determine the physical performance limits of healthy individuals and to develop safe, evidence-based "clinical exercise" prescriptions for individuals with chronic conditions (such as heart disease, lung disease, obesity, and diabetes).
- Main Objective: To enable Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation (Undergraduate and Graduate) students and researchers to kinetically and kinematically analyze human movement and to measure the responses of cardiovascular (heart and circulatory) and pulmonary (lung) systems to exercise using instrumental methods.
- Academic Contribution: The laboratory bridges theoretical exercise physiology and kinesiology theories into a clinical dimension. It academically enhances students' abilities to prescribe personalized exercise for athlete health, geriatric/pediatric rehabilitation, and metabolic diseases, measure maximal oxygen consumption capacity (VO₂ max), and identify biomechanical risk factors.
Devices and Technical Equipment Available in the Laboratory
The laboratory infrastructure houses state-of-the-art clinical devices capable of monitoring human movement and physiological parameters under static and dynamic conditions at the millimetric and cellular levels. Within the scope of Highlights, the technical equipment in the laboratory includes:
- Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) System: An advanced metabolic analyzer system that measures the amounts of oxygen (VO₂) consumed and carbon dioxide (CO₂) produced by individuals during exercise via a mask, determining metabolic thresholds and aerobic capacity.
- Clinical Treadmills and Bicycle Ergometers: Medical-grade stress testing units that can operate integrated with CPET and ECG systems, with inclination, speed, and resistance levels that can be precisely adjusted according to the patient's clinical status.
- Isokinetic Muscle Strength Testing Dynamometers: Computer-controlled test robots that report the maximal torque produced by joints (knee, shoulder, ankle, etc.) under constant speed, muscle imbalances, and agonist/antagonist muscle ratios using objective data.
- Wireless Electromyography (sEMG) Systems: Biomechanical hardware that records the electrical activity of muscles through the skin during exercise or walking, analyzing which muscle contracts with how much force and at what phase.
- 3-Dimensional (3D) Motion and Gait Analysis Systems: Systems that kinematically map deviations in joint angles and gait abnormalities via reflective markers placed on the body and high-speed infrared cameras.
- Force Plates: Panels that collect balance and kinetic data by measuring ground reaction forces (GRF) applied by the foot to the ground in three axes (X, Y, Z) during jumping, pushing off, or walking.
Research Areas and Fields of Application
The clinical tests, academic research, and practical training conducted in the laboratory cover the most critical layers of movement science:
- Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation: Determining safe exercise intensity and managing rehabilitation programs in patients with heart attacks, bypass surgery, or lung diseases such as COPD.
- Athlete Health and Performance Analysis: Determining anaerobic thresholds of professional or amateur athletes, isokinetically measuring muscle strength asymmetries, and performing injury risk analyses.
- Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome Management: Prescribing personalized weight control exercise protocols by determining the basal metabolic rate (BMR) and fat/carbohydrate burning rates during exercise in overweight or diabetic individuals.
- Clinical Biomechanics and Balance Analyses: Performing static/dynamic balance tests, fall risk assessments, and identifying gait cycle anomalies in patients with neurological or orthopaedic pathologies.
Contributions to Students and the Industry
The Clinical Exercise Center Laboratory prepares students for the future digital health and performance market by combining their analytical thinking reflexes with technological data processing skills.
- Evidence-Based Clinical Approach: While preparing exercise programs for patients or athletes, students learn to make precise decisions not through guesswork, but through graphs obtained from devices, numerical muscle strength metrics, and gas analysis outputs.
- Prestigious and Broad Employment: Graduates who learn to use these advanced testing and analysis devices effectively are employed with high priority and prestige as "Specialist Physiotherapists / Clinical Exercise Specialists" in "Exercise Centers" within hospital departments of PT&R, cardiology, and pulmonology, sports medicine units, national team and club-based sports complexes, wellness centers, and performance laboratories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which departments use this laboratory?
This laboratory is actively used primarily by students, academicians, and researchers of the Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation (Undergraduate, Master's, and Doctorate) programs within the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Institute of Health Sciences. Additionally, in accordance with multidisciplinary studies, researchers from other faculties and institutes can also benefit from the laboratory.
Which tests and analyses are performed in the laboratory?
Maximal and submaximal cardiopulmonary stress tests (VO₂ max determination), isokinetic muscle strength and endurance analyses, neuromuscular analyses with surface electromyography (sEMG), 3D computerized gait analysis, and force plate-supported static/dynamic balance tests are performed in the laboratory.
To whom can the tests in the laboratory be applied? Is it risky?
The tests can be applied both to elite athletes and healthy individuals, as well as to individuals with chronic conditions who have received physician approval. Since heart rhythm (ECG), blood pressure, and oxygen saturation are continuously monitored during clinical tests and the tests are conducted under the supervision of specialist physiotherapists, risk factors are minimized to ensure maximum safety.
Is the laboratory open to external sectoral collaborations?
Yes, the laboratory is fully compatible with sectoral collaborations within the scope of performance measurements, product validation tests, and scientific R&D projects to be carried out jointly with sports clubs, athletic performance centers, biomedical companies developing wearable health technologies, and health institutions offering corporate check-up/wellness services.
Can students use the laboratory for their own research outside of class hours?
Yes, within the scope of undergraduate graduation theses, TÜBİTAK student projects, and master's/doctorate thesis studies, students can benefit from the center's infrastructure and analysis software outside of class hours, subject to the approval of the laboratory coordination, the calibration/appointment schedule of testing devices, and the direct supervision of center specialists.
