Julie Nantel

Julie Nantel is a full professor in the School of Human Kinetics. Her research aims at identifying the control mechanisms involved in gait regulation and adaptation in healthy young and older adults and in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Professor Nantel received her PhD in Physical Activity Sciences (biomechanics) from University of Montreal in 2008. Following the completion of her PhD, she joined the Movement Disorders Center in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University for a postdoctoral fellowship (2008-2012).

Professor Nantel is accepting new students for thesis supervision.

• Postural balance disorders.
• Normal and pathological gait patterns.
• Freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease.
• Effect of intervention modalities on balance, risks for falls and mobility in elderly population.

Julie Nantel’s main objectives are to determine the underlying neuromuscular control mechanisms involved in human locomotion and to identify how the locomotor system adapts to temporal or spatial constraints. In addition, large part of her work focuses on determining the effect of aging and Parkinson’s disease on these mechanisms as well as identifying the effect of different physical activity interventions on balance, risk for falls and mobility.

For these research programs she received the Young Investigator Research award from Parkinson Society Canada as well as a Discovery and Discovery Accelerator supplement award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

See Julie Nantel's publications on ResearchGate or ORCID.

Books

• Allard, P., Nantel, J., Leteneur, S., Begon, M., Dalleau, G., Termoz, N., Bouffard- Levasseur, V., Mesure, S., Chavet, P., Holvoet, P. Touzé, A., Boivin, K. (2017) KinAnatomie, JFD Éditions

Peer-reviewed articles

• Pardoel*, S., Nantel, J., Kofman, J., Lemaire, ED. Prediction of Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease using Unilateral and Bilateral Plantar-Pressure Data. Frontiers in Neurology, Accepted January 28 2022.
• *Macdonald, M-E., *Siragy, T., *Hill, A., Nantel, J. Effect of arm motion on postural strategies during uphill and downhill walking. “Frontiers in Sports and Active Living-Biomechanics and Control of Human Movement. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.805147
• *Shalin, G, *Pardoel, S., Lemaire, E.D., Nantel, J., Kofman, J. Prediction and Detection of Freezing of Gait in Parkinson’s Disease from Plantar Pressure Data using Long Short-Term Memory Neural-Networks. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2021 Nov 27;18(1):167. doi: 10.1186/s12984-021-00958-5.
• *Mezher, C., *Siragy, T., Nantel, J. Increased Arm Swing and Rocky Surfaces Reduces Postural Control in Healthy Young Adults, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, section Biomechanics, Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol., https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.645581
• Bailey CA, Uchida TK, Nantel J, Graham RB. Validity and Sensitivity of an Inertial Measurement Unit-Driven Biomechanical Model of Motor Variability for Gait. Sensors (Basel). 2021 Nov 19;21(22):7690. doi: 10.3390/s21227690.
• *Bailey, C.A., *Hill, A.,† Graham, R., Nantel, J. Effects of arm swing amplitude and lower limb asymmetry on motor variability patterns during treadmill gait. Journal of Biomechanics. J Biomech. 2021 Nov 1;130:110855. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2021.110855.
• *Gholizadeh, H., †Lemaire, E., Nantel, J.  Effects of unity prosthetic elevated vacuum suspension system on minimum swing toe clearance. Vol. 5 No. 1 (2022): Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v5i1.36847
• *Pardoel, S., *Shalin, G., †Lemaire, E.D., Kofman, J., Nantel, J. Grouping successive freezing of gait episodes has neutral to detrimental effect on freeze detection and prediction in Parkinson’s disease. PLoS One. 2021 Oct 12;16(10):e0258544. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258544
• *Sadler CM, *Kami AT, Nantel J, Carlsen AN. Transcranial direct current stimulation of supplementary motor area improves upper limb kinematics in Parkinson's disease. Clin Neurophysiol. 2021 Nov;132(11):2907-2915. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.06.031
• *Siragy T, *Hill A, Nantel J. Recovery of dynamic stability during slips unaffected by arm swing in people with Parkinson's Disease. PLoS One. 2021 Apr 6;16(4):e0249303. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249303.
• *Pardoel S, *Shalin G, Nantel J, Lemaire ED, Kofman J. Early Detection of Freezing of Gait during Walking Using Inertial Measurement Unit and Plantar Pressure Distribution Data. Sensors (Basel). 2021 Mar 23;21(6):2246. doi: 10.3390/s21062246.
• Brunet J, Price J, Wurz A, McDonough M, Nantel J. Boxing with Parkinson's Disease: findings from a qualitative study using self-determination theory. Disabil Rehabil.2021,Feb 24:1-10. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2021.1891465
• *Ahmadi S, *Siragy T, Nantel J. Regularity of kinematic data between single and dual-task treadmill walking in people with Parkinson's disease. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2021 Feb 1;18(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s12984-021-00807-5.
• *Siragy T, *MacDonald ME, Nantel J. Restricted Arm Swing in People With Parkinson's Disease Decreases Step Length and Time on Destabilizing Surfaces. Front Neurol. 2020 Sep 25;11:873. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00873.

Media

• 2021 Sept. 23, Vivre Vieux, Doc Humanité, Radio-Canada, https://ici.tou.tv/vivre-vieux
• 2021 March, Encore Jeune, TV Rogers
• 2017 Nov 2, BBC, Could boxing training help with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
• 2017 April 21,CBC, Float like a butterfly: Parkinson’s patient take up boxing to fight symptoms

Research: Health Sciences professors receive multiple research grants