Matthew J. Major

About

Matthew J Major is an Associate Professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is also an Associate Professor at the McCormick School of Engineering. His research is associated with the Major Lab - Prosthetics and Orthotics Rehabilitation Assessment Laboratory (PORTAL), which focuses on advancements in prosthetics and orthotics, aiming to improve rehabilitation outcomes. He is affiliated with the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS).

Research topics

• Medicine
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Surgery
• Physics
• Computer Science
• Physical therapy
• Engineering
• Structural engineering
• Orthodontics
• Nursing

Selected publications

• Inter-limb weight transfer strategy during walking after unilateral transfemoral amputation

  Scientific Reports · 2021 · 29 citations

  Although weight transfer is an important component of gait rehabilitation, the biomechanical strategy underlying the vertical ground reaction force loading/unloading in individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputation between intact and prosthetic limbs remains unclear. We investigated weight transfer between limbs at different walking speeds in 15 individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputation and 15 individuals without amputation as controls, who walked on an instrumented treadmill. Th…

  DOI

• Estimating the Replicability of Sports and Exercise Science Research

  Sports Medicine · 2025-06-16 · 21 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: The replicability of sports and exercise research has not been assessed previously despite concerns about scientific practices within the field. AIM: This study aims to provide an initial estimate of the replicability of applied sports and exercise science research published in quartile 1 journals (SCImago journal ranking for 2019 in the Sports Science subject category; www.scimagojr.com ) between 2016 and 2021. METHODS: A formalised selection protocol for this replication project wa…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Focusing Research Efforts on the Unique Needs of Women Prosthesis Users

  JPO Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics · 2021 · 14 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: Women with lower limb loss represent a relevant and growing patient cohort with unique rehabilitation needs. These needs are emphasized in a growing body of literature and the most recent Veteran Affairs/Department of Defense clinical practice guidelines. PROSTHETICS CHALLENGES: Women with limb loss experience greater dissatisfaction with prosthetic fit, appearance, and types of footwear they can use. There is a lack of prosthetics solutions to accommodate the desire of women to we…

  DOI

• Perturbation recovery during walking is impacted by knowledge of perturbation timing in below-knee prosthesis users and non-impaired participants

  PLoS ONE · 2020 · 14 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Previous research found that below-knee prosthesis users proactively increase their lateral margin-of-stability on their impaired side in anticipation of an impending perturbation when the timing is predictable and potentially directed toward the impaired limb. While knowledge of perturbation timing and direction influences proactive strategies, the consequences of such knowledge and anticipatory behavior on recovery from perturbations is unclear. This study characterized center-of-mass (CoM) dy…

  DOI

• Reducing stiffness of shock-absorbing pylon amplifies prosthesis energy loss and redistributes joint mechanical work during walking

  Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation · 2021 · 13 citations

  BACKGROUND: A shock-absorbing pylon (SAP) is a modular prosthetic component designed to attenuate impact forces, which unlike traditional pylons that are rigid, can compress to absorb, return, or dissipate energy. Previous studies found that walking with a SAP improved lower-limb prosthesis users' comfort and residual limb pain. While longitudinal stiffness of a SAP has been shown to affect gait kinematics, kinetics, and work done by the entire lower limb, the energetic contributions from the pr…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Sensory-Motor Mechanisms Underlying Fall Risk in Transtibial Amputees

  NIH · 2014–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Steven A. Gard

  Northwestern University

  82 shared

• Rebecca Stine

  Jesse Brown VA Medical Center

  51 shared

• John T. Brinkmann

  Northwestern University

  39 shared

• Kiley Armstrong

  United States Department of Veterans Affairs

  36 shared

• Martina Lukin

  30 shared

• Stefania Fatone

  University of Washington

  27 shared

• Ryan Caldwell

  Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

  26 shared

• Elizabeth Russell Esposito

  Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

  25 shared

Similar researchers at Northwestern University

• Jose Ponsh-60