Annika started her PhD at the Institute of Sports Science in Graz/Austria in 2014. There, she became part of the working group “Biomechanics, movement and training science”, and performed her PhD with the aim to gain insight into the muscle-tendon properties of children with cerebral palsy. Annika presented her research at several national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.
Only recently, she received a career research grant from the Austrian Science Fund. Her current Post-Doc project is about the effects of different stretching techniques in children with CP.
Besides her aim to contribute to the development and evaluation of effective treatment strategies in patients with CP, Annika is interested in the effects of training on muscle-tendon properties as well as functional performance variables such as gait. Therefore, she learned how to use several techniques and methods (e.g. ultrasound, 3D gait analysis), and always strives to acquire new techniques (currently: 3D ultrasound) and new knowledge.
Annika became a member of the ESMAC in 2016 and since then, has presented her work each year to the ESMAC community. Until now, it has been her honor to give several presentations, to be chairperson and both reviewer in the Best Poster Committee and for the abstract evaluation. The ESMAC also helped Annika to network with important researchers in her field. Thus, Annika already feels and partially is associated with the ESMAC and would like to make the next step, more precisely, to become part of the ESMAC science committee.
Since Annika is highly enthusiastic, well organized and a communicative young researcher, she could make a significant contribution to the ESMAC committee and community.