Department of Public Health and Exercise Science

Education

• Ph.D. in Kinesiology (Biomechanics), The Pennsylvania State University, 2014
• M.S. in Kinesiology (Biomechanics), The Pennsylvania State University, 2008
• B.Soc.Sci. in Sports Psychology, The University of Pretoria, 2004
• B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering, The University of Pretoria, 1998

Current Teaching

• ES 3550 – Introduction to Biomechanics
• ES 5591 – Biomechanical Laboratory Assessment

Professional Affiliations / Organizations

• American Society of Biomechanics

Laboratory Affiliation

• Musculoskeletal Mechanics (Director)

Research Interests

• Novel motion analysis techniques to assess movement outside the traditional laboratory

Selected Publications

• van Werkhoven, H., Farina, K.A., Langley, M.H. (2019). Using a soft conformable foot sensor to measure changes in foot strike angle during running. Sports, 7, 184.
• Gurchiek, R.D., McGinnis, R.S., Needle, A.R., McBride, J.M., van Werkhoven, H. (2018). An adaptive filtering algorithm to estimate sprint velocity using a single inertial sensor. Sports Engineering, 21, 389-399.
• van Werkhoven, H., Piazza, S.J. (2017). Foot structure is correlated with performance in a single-joint jumping task. Journal of Biomechanics, 57, 27-31
• Takahashi, K.Z., Gross, M.T., van Werkhoven, H., Piazza, S.J., Sawicki, G.S. (2016). Adding stiffness to the foot modulates soleus force-velocity behaviour during human walking. Scientific Reports, 6:29870.
• Lidstone D.E., van Werkhoven, H., Stewart, J.A., Gurchiek R.D., Burris, M.E., Rice P.E., Feimster, G.W., McBride, J.M. (2016). Medial gastrocnemius muscle-tendon interaction and architecture change during exhaustive hopping exercise. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 30, 89-97.
• van Werkhoven, H., Piazza, S.J. (2013). Computational model of maximal-height single-joint jumping predicts bouncing as optimal strategy. Journal of Biomechanics, 46(6), 1092-1097.
• Baxter, J.R., Novack, T.A., van Werkhoven, H., Pennell, D.R., & Piazza, S.J. (2012). Ankle joint mechanics and foot proportions differ between human sprinters and non-sprinters. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Science, 729(1735), 2018-2024.