Schools from the south of England were invited to the University of Southampton for a “Learn with us – Yr8 taster day” on 21st and 28th January 2014. Students aged 12-13 years old from the schools attended three one hour and half hour workshops run by participating faculties in the university to gain an insight into the work that is done at the university and inspire them for future careers .
The Faculty of Health Sciences ran one such workshop demonstrating their work in sport, exercise and osteoarthritis with live demonstrations of laboratory facilities and discussions of their work. The students experienced 3D motion analysis and how this is being used to assess the movement patterns of footballers with hip pain with Dr Martin Warner. They also saw a live demonstration of rehabilitative ultrasound imaging with Prof Maria Stokes and Simon Brown and how this is used to gain an understanding of how muscles work, what happens when they contract and what happens to muscles as you age.
Dr Jo Adams, Dr Cathy Bowen and PhD students Peter McQueen and Charlotte Dando demonstrated how osteoarthritis can affect the feet and hands and what happens when joints deteriorate over time leading to joint replacements. The students then were able to handle a replacement hip and finger joint.
