The Sports Medicine and Movement Lab studies sport biomechanics and provides evidence-based injury prevention protocols. Director Gretchen Oliver, Ph.D., FISBS, FACSM, ATC, CES, and her doctoral students specialize in kinematics, motion analysis, functional assessment, and injury prevention.
Dr. Oliver’s research focuses on injury prevention in youth, collegiate, and professional athletes, and provides strengthening, stretching, and performance feedback to participants who may be at increased risk of injury.
Baseball & Biomechanics: Elite Pitching Research at Auburn University
Plainsman Park has been home to Auburn Baseball for more than 75 years, but since 2023, it has also housed two research spaces for the School of Kinesiology's Sports Medicine & Movement Lab, with data collection happening in the bullpen and on the field. Using KinaTrax, a markerless motion capture technology that delivers precise 3D imaging and biomechanical analysis, students in the Sports Medicine & Movement Lab collect data to assist Auburn Baseball with evidence-based injury prevention and performance enhancement protocols. Directed by Dr. Gretchen Oliver, the lab uses motion analysis and functional assessments to gain a better understanding of kinetics, kinematics, and energy flow associated with baseball and softball.
Watch a video about the lab's partnership with Auburn Baseball.
Three Unique Lab Spaces
The Sports Medicine & Movement Lab conducts research in three unique lab spaces:- In-game: 16 KinaTrax cameras collect data during each baseball game and lab students provide reports to Auburn Baseball after each home game, allowing coaches and players to make adjustments for optimal performance
- Bullpen: Pitchers are analyzed using markerless data collection and fully instrumented pitching mound
- In-lab: Students analyze pitching performance and injuries for baseball and softball players age 7 through college
Dr. Oliver is a full professor in the School of Kinesiology and Director of the Sports Medicine & Movement Laboratory at Auburn University. She is the President of the American Baseball Biomechanics Society, Executive Board Member of the International Shoulder Group, and Executive Board Member of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports. Her primary research focus is on injury prevention and performance enhancement in youth baseball and softball athletes. Among her peers she is known as the expert in youth baseball and softball injury prevention and the biomechanics of windmill softball pitching.
Gretchen Oliver’s primary research focus is on injury prevention and performance enhancement. She is particularly interested in youth overhead throwing, baseball pitching, and softball pitching. Her Lab examines athletes from youth baseball pitchers to collegiate and professional baseball and softball players. She has a special interest in the area of fatigue in extended performances in baseball and softball pitching and throwing. Gretchen Oliver is one of the elite biomechanists in sports medicine who examine youth overuse injuries in baseball and softball.
Watch a video about the lab’s research on youth baseball pitching.
Book an appointment for a biomechanical analysis and contribute to our lab's research data.
Injury Prevention & Performance Enhancement Program
The Sports Medicine and Movement Lab is involved in outreach through the Injury Prevention & Performance Enhancement Program. It assesses youth mechanics and postural abnormalities to recognize deficits in performance that could lead to injury and correct them.
Through Gretchen Oliver’s research efforts and training, she has come to recognize deficits in performance that can lead to injury. Since her current research agenda is based on injury prevention of youth, the Sports Medicine and Movement Lab examines youth who present these deficits. The program provides strengthening, stretching, and performance feedback to participants who may be at increased risk of injury without this feedback.
The Sports Medicine and Movement Lab is an affiliated Professional Health Organization collaborator with STOP Sports Injuries. The STOP Sports Injuries campaign emphasizes the expertise of our coalition of experts, including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Academy of Pediatrics, National Athletic Trainers’ Association, National Strength and Conditioning Association, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and SAFE Kids USA.
