Prof. Itshak Melzer has come full circle. The alumnus of the fourth graduating class in physiotherapy at the Recanati School for Community Health Professions has been appointed its new head. He replaces Prof. Yaakov Gopes who completed six years in the post.
Prof. Melzer completed his MSc. and PhD in the Faculty of Health Sciences and his post-doc at Boston University’s Neuro-Muscular Research Center.
He is the head of The Schwartz Movement Analysis & Rehabilitation Laboratory. Its mission is to increase our understanding of human motor control, gait and balance disorders and improve the quality of life during and after rehabilitation as well as in older adults. It pursues these goals by performing basic and applied research, and by developing new techniques and technology in rehabilitation.
Currently, the research is focused in the field of balance control in the elderly. Melzer and Prof. Amir Shapiro of the Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed a novel mechatronic device called the Balance Measure & Perturbation System (BaMPer System) (patent PCT/IB2010/052079). The BaMPer provides controlled and unpredictable perturbations of posture while subjects carry out daily motor tasks such as walking. These perturbations trigger postural “reflexes”, leading to an activation of balance recovery responses.
Between 2005-2011, Melzer was head of the Department of Physiotherapy, and helped create the MSc.
