Rate My Professor Natalie Vanicek

Professor Vanicek's research focuses on clinical gait analysis and musculoskeletal biomechanics, with the goal of enhancing quality of life, functional mobility, and fall prevention for individuals with lower limb amputations and limited mobility. She developed the KEEP MOVING community-based exercise programme for people living with limb loss in Hull, which received the 2024 Disability Sport Yorkshire Cyril Villiers Organisation award and is now offered online across the UK in collaboration with the Limbless Association. As Chief Investigator, she leads the STEPFORWARD trial (2026-2029, funded by NIHR Health Technology Assessment), a multi-centre randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation assessing the effects of a hydraulic self-aligning ankle-foot prosthesis on quality of life for below-knee amputation patients with limited mobility, involving 10-12 NHS prosthetics centres in England and Scotland. This follows her successful NIHR Research for Patient Benefit feasibility trial (2018-2020). Her influential publications include "A personalised exercise programme for individuals with lower limb amputation reduces falls and improves gait biomechanics: A block randomised controlled trial" (Gait & Posture, 2018), "Gait patterns in transtibial amputee fallers vs. non-fallers: Biomechanical differences during level walking" (Gait & Posture, 2009), and "Through-knee versus above-knee amputation for vascular disease" (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2021). Professor Vanicek's work has significantly impacted rehabilitation practices for amputees.