Authors: Mathew George¹, Tanvi Verma², Professor Paul Lee² — ¹ Leicester Medical School, ² MSK Doctors

Why this Matters

Sit-to-stand (STS) and squat are ubiquitous, functional movements that serve as revealing windows into an individual's lower-limb strength, control, balance and neuromuscular coordination. In both rehabilitation and performance settings, clinicians often use these tasks to judge recovery, detect asymmetries, or guide progression of therapy. But typically, the assessment is qualitative (e.g. \"patient looks stable,\" \"slight knee inward motion\") or semi-quantitative (e.g. counting repetitions, measuring time), limiting sensitivity, objectivity and reproducibility. Distinguishing subtle divergences in movement strategy or compensatory mechanisms is especially challenging without rigorous biomechanical metrics.

In the study presented at the British Orthopaedic Association (2025), \"Biomechanical Comparison of Sit-to-Stand and Squat Using the CRAFT Framework and MAI Motion Analysis\", we introduced a scalable, clinic-ready software to compare STS vs squat through a unified lens. The CRAFT framework (Control, Repetition, Asymmetry, Flow, Twist) provides five key dimensions of movement analysis:

MAI Motion can compute objective, repeatable metrics in real time — for instance, quantifying how smoothly each phase of movement is performed, detecting subtle asymmetries, or capturing deviations in movement.

Framing the work at the conference highlighted both its technical and translational ambitions. The presentation showcases the proof of concept: that STS and squat, when assessed through the same objective framework, can reveal distinct biomechanical profiles, aid in tracking rehabilitation progress, and support data-driven decision making. MAI Motion gives clinicians objective, repeatable metrics in real time.