Max J. Kurz, PhD

Max KurzMax J. Kurz, PhD
Physical Therapy Department
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450

Phone: (402) 559-9599
E-mail: mkurz@unmc.edu
Website: Max J. Kurz, PhD

Professional Summary:

Dr. Kurz’s expertise is on the use of biomechanical analysis techniques to quantify human movement. He has over 30 publications on the gait and balance of human walking. His experimental work has appeared in scientific journals such as Gait and Posture, Neuroscience Letters and Journal of Biomechanics.

Education:

PhD, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 2006
MS, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, 1997
BS, Doane College, Crete, NE, 1994

Courses Taught:

HPER 8040 Research Methods,
PE 8010 Motor Control
PHYT 740 Critical Inquiry II

Research Interests and Projects:

  • Gait and Balance of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Selected Publications: (within the last 5 years)

  • Kurz, MJ, Stuberg, WA & De Jong, SA (2010). Mechanical work performed by the legs of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. Gait & Posture 31(3):347-50.
  • Kurz, MJ, Markopoulu, K & Stergiou, N (2010). Attractor divergence as a metric for assessing walking balance. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and Life Sciences 14(2):151-164.
  • Scott-Pandorf, M, O’Connor, DP, Layne, CS & Kurz, MJ (2010). Walking in a simulated Martian gravity: influence of added weight on sagittal dynamic stability. Acta Astronautica 66(9-10):1341-1352.
  • Kurz, MJ & Hou, JG (2010). Levodopa influences the regularity of the ankle joint kinematics in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Computational Neuroscience 28(1):131-6.
  • Arellano, CJ, O’Connor, DP, Layne, CS & Kurz, MJ (2009). The independent effect of added mass on the stability of the sagittal plane leg kinematics during steady-state human walking. Journal of Experimental Biology, 212(12):1965-70.
  • Scott-Pandorf, M, O’Connor, DP, Layne, CS & Kurz, MJ (2009). Walking in a simulated Martian gravity: insights on the influence of load location. ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 131(9):091005.
  • Arellano, CJ, Layne, CS, O’Connor, DP, Scott-Pandorf, M & Kurz, MJ (2009). Does load carrying influence sagittal plane stability? Medicine Science in Sports and Exercise, 41(3):620-7.
  • Pothakos, K, Kurz, MJ & Lau, YS (2009). Restorative effect of endurance exercise on behavioral deficits in the chronic mouse model of Parkinson's disease with severe neurodegeneration. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 10(1):6.
  • Kyvelidou, A, Kurz, MJ, Ehlers, JL & Stergiou, N (2008). Aging and partial body weight support affects gait variability. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 19(5):22.
  • Kurz, MJ, Judkins, TN, Arellano, C & Scott-Pandorf, M (2008). A passive dynamic walking robot has a deterministic nonlinear gait. Journal of Biomechanics, 41(6):1310-6.
  • Kurz, MJ, Scott-Pandorf, M, Arellano, C, Olsen, D & Whittaker, G (2008). Is the penguin waddle a control strategy for stable gait? Journal of Theoretical Biology 252(2):272-6.
  • Kurz, MJ, Pothakos, K, Jamaluddin, S, Scott-Pandorf, M, Arellano, C & Lau, YS (2007). A chronic mouse model of Parkinson’s disease has a reduced gait pattern certainty. Neuroscience Letters 429(1):39-42.
  • Al-Jarrah, M, Pothakos, K, Novikova, L, Smirnova, IV, Kurz, MJ, Stehno-Bittel & Lau, YS (2007). Endurance exercise promotes behavioral and cardiorespiratory rehabilitation without neurorestoration in the chronic mouse model of Parkinsonism with severe neurodegeneration. Neuroscience 149(1):28-37.
  • Kurz, MJ & Stergiou, N (2007). Do propulsive forces influence the nonlinear structure of locomotion? Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation 4:30.
  • Kurz, MJ & N, Stergiou (2007). Hip actuations can be used to control bifurcations and chaos in a passive dynamic walking model. ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering 129(2):216-22.
  • Miller, DJ, N, Stergiou & MJ, Kurz (2006). An improved surrogate method for detecting the presence of chaos in gait. Journal of Biomechanics 39, 2873-2876
  • Kurz, MJ & N, Stergiou (2005). An artificial neural network that utilizes hip joint actuations to control bifurcations and chaos in a passive dynamic walking model. Biological Cybernetics 93(3):213-21.

Professional Affiliations:

  • American Society of Biomechanics
  • Society for Neuroscience
  • Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society