Heather Kennedy Curtin

I work as a specialist physiotherapist in gait analysis, my background is in paediatric physiotherapy. I have a completed a mixed methods PhD with the School of Engineering in Trinity College Dublin, investigating the effects of mobility assistance dogs to help walking in children with cerebral palsy. This involved several studies : measurement of the gait pattern of the children before and after they received a mobility assistance dog, using 3D gait analysis; measuring the activity levels of the children using wearable sensors; measuring their quality of life and qualitative interviews to measure the parents perceptions of the dogs. One study has been published to date and twp are under review. The PhD thesis was completed in January 2025. This is the first study of its kind in a novel therapeutic area.