Chris McGibbon

Dr. Chris A. McGibbon received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick in 1994, followed by a 2 year post-doctoral fellowship in Orthopaedic Biomechanics at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS), Department of Orthopaedics Surgery, Boston, MA.

Between 1996 and 2004, Dr. McGibbon was Technical/ Assistant Director of the MGH Biomotion Laboratory, Lecturer in Orthopaedic Surgery at HMS, and Assistant Professor (1996-2000) and Associate Professor (2000-2004) in the Graduate Programs in Physical Therapy at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, MA. Dr. McGibbon is currently Professor in Kinesiology and Research Chair in Rehabilitation Biomechanics at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.

Dr. McGibbon's research interests are focused primarily on better understanding the underlying biological mechanisms of, and efficacy of therapeutic management for, age related disorders of the musculoskeletal system, and neurologic disorders affecting balance, locomotion and coordination. Current research includes the biomechanical and physiological effects of using prosthetic and robotic exoskeleton walking devices, the development of wearable motion sensor systems for applications in neuro-rehabilitation, and fall prevention in hospitals and nursing homes.

Dr. McGibbon has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and as many conference abstracts, and has held funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Foundation for Innovation, the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and Mitacs. He has attracted more than 8 million in research funding to UNB since starting his appointment in 2004.

Dr. McGibbon was a member of the Institute Advisory Board for the Canadian Institutes of Health, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (2007-2010), and served on the Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Sciences study-section for the Centre for Scientific Review at the US National Institutes of Health (2012-2018).

Recent publications (since 2012)

McGibbon CA, Sexton A, Jayaraman A, Deems-Dluhy S, Gryfe P, Novak A, Dutta T, Fabara E, Adans-Dester C, Bonato P. Evaluation of the Keeogo exoskeleton for assisting ambulatory activities in people with multiple sclerosis: An open-label, randomized, cross-over trial. J Neuroeng Rehabil, 2018 Dec 12;15(1):117.

Mohamed A, Sexton A, Simonsen K, McGibbon CA, Development of a mechanistic hypothesis linking compensatory biomechanics and stepping asymmetry during gait of transfemoral amputees. Appl Bion Biomech, Accepted (ID 4769242), Nov 2018.

McGibbon CA, Slayter JT, Yetman L, McCollum A, McCloskey R, Gionet SG, Oakley H, Jarrett P. An analysis of falls and those who fall in a chronic care facility. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2018 Aug 11. pii: S1525-8610(18)30360-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2018.06.022. [Epub ahead of print].

Whelan A, Sexton A, Jones M, O'Connell C, McGibbon CA. Predictive value of the pendulum test for assessing knee extensor spasticity. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2018 Jul 18;15(1):68.

McGibbon CA, Sexton A, Hughes G, Wilson A, Jones M, O'Connell C, Parker K, Adans-Dester C, O'Brien A, Bonato P. Evaluation of a toolkit for standardizing clinical measures of muscle tone. Physiol Meas. 2018 Aug 8;39(8):085001.

Cullen S, Montero-Odasso M, Bherer L, Almeida Q, Fraser S, Muir-Hunter S, Li K, Liu-Ambrose T, McGibbon CA, McIlroy W, Middleton LE, Sarquis-Adamson Y, Beauchet O, McFadyen BJ, Morais JA, Camicioli R; Canadian Gait and Cognition Network. Guidelines for Gait Assessments in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA). Can Geriatr J. 2018 Jun 30;21(2):157-165.

Beyea J, McGibbon CA, Sexton A, Noble J, O’Connell C. Convergent validity of a wearable sensor system for measuring sub-task performance during the timed up-and-go test. Sensors (Basel), 2017;17:934.

McGibbon CA, Brandon SC, Brookshaw M, Sexton A. Effects of an over-ground exoskeleton on external knee moments during stance phase of gait in healthy adults. The Knee, 2017;24:977-93.

McGibbon CA, Sexton A, Jones M, Colleen O’Connell CA. Quantification of elbow muscle tone from an instrumented manual stretch-reflex test. Phys Med Rehabil Res, 2017 (in press).

McGibbon CA, Fowler J, Chase S, Steeves K, Landry J, Mohamed A. Evaluation of anatomical and functional hip joint center methods: The effects of activity type, gender and proximal reference segment. ASME J Biomech Eng, 2016 Jan;138(epub ahead of print).

McGibbon CA, Sexton A, Jones M, O’Connell CA. Elbow spasticity during passive stretch-reflex: Clinical evaluation using a wearable sensor system. J Neuroeng Rehabil, 2013;10:61.

Roy K, Chester V, McGibbon CA. Examining gait patterns after total knee arthroplasty using parameterization and principal component analysis. Open J Orthop, 2013;3(2);156-63.

McGibbon CA. A biomechanical model for encoding joint dynamics: Applications to transfemoral prosthesis control. J Appl Physiol, 2012 May;112(9):1600-11.

Mohamed A, Baba J, Beyea JBA, Landry J, Sexton A, and McGibbon CA. Comparison of strain-gage and fiber-optic goniometry for measuring knee kinematics during activities of daily living and exercise. J Biomech Eng, 2012 Aug;134(8):084502.

Recent conference presentations (since 2012)

MacDonald A, Brookshaw M, Sexton A, Noble J, McGibbon CA. Effects of cognitive load on walking tasks with a lower-extremity exoskeleton. 20th Biennial meeting, Canadian Society of Biomechanics, Halifax, Canada, Aug 2018.

Mohamed A, Sexton A, Simonsen K, McGibbon CA. Biomechanical analysis of stepping asymmetry during amputee gait. 20th Biennial meeting, Canadian Society of Biomechanics, Halifax, Canada, Aug 2018.

McGibbon CA, Mohamed A. Knee load reduction from an energy storing mechanical brace: a simulation study. 20th Biennial meeting, Canadian Society of Biomechanics, Halifax, Canada, Aug 2018.

MacDonald A, Noble J, McGibbon CA. A comparative assessment of cognitive loading and obstacle crossing in healthy lower-limb exoskeleton users. 2017 Movement conference, Oxford University, July 2017.

Slayter J, McGibbon CA, McCollum A, Yetman L, Oakley H, Gionet S, McCloskey R, Jarrett P. Falls on Inpatient Geriatric Units: Which tools predicts falls the best? 37th Annual Canadian Geriatric Society Conference, Toronto, April 2017.

Yetman L, McGibbon CA, Gionet S, Oakley H, Slayter J, McCollum A, McClockey R, Jarrett P. Falls on Geriatric Hospital Units: What information can we learn from reports from nurses? 37th Annual Canadian Geriatric Society Conference, Toronto, April 2017

Brandon S, Brookshaw M, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. Biomechanical evaluation of a dermoskeleton during gait. Canadian Society of Biomechanics, Hamilton, Canada, July 2016.

Brandon S, Brookshaw M, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. Measurement system for gait mechanics during exoskeleton use. Robotics: Science and Systems Workshop: Assistive Robotic Devices for Dynamic Locomotion, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, May 2016.

Muggah J, Brandon S, Brookshaw M, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. The metabolic effects of a lower limb robotic dermoskeleton. Canadian Society of Biomechanics, Hamilton, Canada, July 2016.

McGibbon CA. Biomechanics of over-ground exoskeleton locomotion. Canadian Society of Biomechanics, Gait Symposium, Hamilton, Canada, July 2016.

Mohamed A, Sexton A, Landry J, McGibbon CA. Modeling and simulation of transfemoral amputee gait.7th Annual New Brunswick Health Research Foundation Conference, Fredericton, Canada, Nov 2015.

Beyea JBA, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. Automating the timed up-and-go test with wearable sensors. 7th Annual New Brunswick Health Research Foundation Conference, Fredericton, Canada, Nov 2015.

Brookshaw M, Sexton A, Hughes G, McGibbon CA. Assessing the validity and reliability of an isometric strength measurement device.7th Annual New Brunswick Health Research Foundation Conference, Fredericton, Canada, Nov 2015.

Aloraini SM, Mackay-Lyons M, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. A new toolkit for measuring spasticity: a pilot study investigating the validity of the BioTone system for patients post-stroke. Canadian Physiotherapy Association National Congress, Halifax, Canada, July 2015.

Muggah J, Brandon S, Brookshaw M, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. The metabolic effects of a lower limb robotic exoskeleton. 7th Annual New Brunswick Health Research Foundation Conference, Fredericton, Canada, Nov 2015.

O’Connell C, McCullum S, Jones M, Sexton A, McGibbon CA. Pilot testing of functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling on spasticity in persons with spinal cord injury. 4th NBHRF, Saint John NB, Nov 2013.

Smith R, Lavellee, C, McGibbon CA. Quantification of the effects of path radius on temporo-spatial gait parameters in healthy walkers. 4th NBHRF, Fredericton NB, Nov, 2012.

Landry JS, Sexton A, Hughes G, McGibbon CA. A wearable sensor system for quantifying isometric elbow and knee joint strength. Proceeding of the 17th ACCES/35th CMBES, Halifax, NS. July, 2012 – Best paper award.