The physiology lab helps us understand how your product is affecting the athlete. We can measure their heart rate with ECG, their exertion with gas analysis, their power output, their body fat, the amount of pressure they can apply or get them to run naturally on a treadmill with our pace treadmill that adapts to the speed of the athlete. Each of these measures help us understand how your product is performing.

The workshop is key to our ability to deliver bespoke testing solutions. The state of the art machine shop is reponsible for the rugby shirt strength tester, which was a part of the Nike rugby project, the friction testing rig and all the safety cages for the large test rigs we have in the labs. The workshop also enables us to create and develop prototypes in house, giving ultimate control over the design and increasing the speed at which we can develop the product and iterate the prototypes.

Motion analysis is a must for a biomechanist. The ability to track and monitor the movement of a variety of anatomical landmarks and determine the effect of this movement on breast motion or on the strain of a garment is vital. The lab can also be used in conjunction with launch monitors, high speed video and force plates to, not only get fantastically comprhensive insights, but also to develop powerful visual imagery of products in action, making a difference.

The materials lab isn’t all about testing raw materials. We can adapt the instron machines to perform more realistic use case scenarios, like skin friction testing. We can also use the 3D printer to create basic prototypes that help push a concept forward or use the oven to simulate extreme conditions that your product is going to be used in. Add to that the ability to run repeated wear testing on the Electropuls and the impact attenuation of almost anything on the drop rig or the dynatup gives you our comprehensive materials lab.

The thermoregulation lab provides us with control over the conditions in which someone is being tested. We have the facility to control temperature with reasonable accuracy in the Ergonomics Suite in the Sports Technology Institute, but to get a true indication of product performance we access the highly controllable climate chambers. In here we have an accuracy of <0.5°C and <1% humidity, add this to a range from -20°C to 40°C and 0-100% humidity and we can go to any climate in the world without leaving Loughborough. This pair of high accuracy chambers allow testing of windy conditions up to 30mph as well as an indication of thermal shock, going from extreme cold to extreme heat or vice versa. If you’re looking to measure how well your kit manages in these extreme conditions and how it helps the athlete, this is where we will go.