How pregnancy changes body shape and movement
Official title: Capturing body segment changes during pregnancy to develop an accurate biomechanical model.
Funded at William Paterson University · NIH-11195508 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Measures how body shape, weight distribution, and joint loads change during pregnancy to build better movement models for people who work while pregnant.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R03 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | William Paterson University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Wayne, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 2024 |
| Project end | September 29, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $63,829 |
| NIH project number | 5R03OH012700-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11195508 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people who are pregnant early enough to participate in repeated measurements, plan to continue working through pregnancy, and can attend in-person visits.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not pregnant, who cannot attend multiple visits, or who have high-risk pregnancies that prevent participation are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
If you join, you'll have repeated body measurements through your pregnancy to track changes in mass, center of mass, and limb and trunk shape. The team will use these measurements to create a geometric model plus two statistical (regression) models that predict how body segments change at different pregnancy stages. The models will be made publicly available so ergonomists, clinicians, and employers can use them. The aim is to improve calculations of forces and joint loads when pregnant people perform tasks at work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to ergonomic guidelines and tools that reduce injury, strain, and discomfort for pregnant workers.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work has relied on whole-body measures like BMI, and detailed longitudinal body-segment models specific to pregnancy are largely novel.
Where this research is happening
-
William Paterson University
Wayne, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wicke, Jason — William Paterson University
- Study coordinator: Wicke, Jason
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
How air pollution during pregnancy affects fetal growth over time
This study looks at how air pollution affects the growth of babies in the womb during pregnancy, using ultrasound images to track changes over time, and it aims to help expectant parents understand when their babies might be most at risk from pollution.
-
Postoperative Pain Guidelines for Pregnancy: Safer, Patient-Centered Opioid Use
We’re creating patient-friendly guidelines to help doctors manage pain after delivery and surgery in pregnant people, aiming to reduce opioid overuse and improve safety.
-
HPV and pregnancy risk: a big study following 1,280 pregnancies
A large pregnancy study at UTMB looks at whether human papillomavirus (HPV) during pregnancy is linked to problems like preterm birth.
-
Understanding how where you live and personal factors during pregnancy affect a child’s risk for obesity and metabolic problems
This project looks at how neighborhood conditions and individual factors during pregnancy may influence a child’s risk of obesity and metabolic health as they grow.
-
Blocking cancer-causing cMYC tricks after pregnancy changes in the breast
Researchers are testing how pregnancy and aging reshape the breast before cancer risk, using patient-reinformed models to see if it changes how dangerous cMYC signals behave.
-
SSRI use during pregnancy: effects on placental blood flow and inflammation
This grant studies how antidepressants (SSRIs) used during pregnancy might affect the placenta and inflammation, and whether a 5-HT2 receptor blocker could mitigate any negative effects.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.