Dr Jake Bowd

Jake graduated with a BSc (Hons) and a MSc in Sports and Exercise Sciences. Jake experienced biomechanics in an applied setting as a Sport Science Intern at Watford F.C which gave him practical insights to the planning and execution of carefully considered training programmes.

Jake's PhD is titled 'Does gait retraining have the potential to slow osteoarthritis (OA) development and prolong the benefits of knee realignment surgery (High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO))? The PhD quantified external knee adduction moments and developed musculoskeletal models to determine load distribution in the tibia subchondral bone pre-to-post-HTO. Gait and full body joint biomechanics were quantified for healthy volunteers and patients pre-and post-HTO, to reveal biomechanical differences. Generated recommendations for gait modifications that are beneficial to patients with knee OA and contribute to rehabilitation protocols with the aim to lead to clinical trials.
After his PhD, Jake spent time as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Cardiff University. He achieved his first Co-Investigator award on an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account titled ‘Gait Retraining for patients undergoing High Tibial Osteotomy’. This work aimed to build an in-house pipeline to provide participants with real-time feedback on lower limb biomechanics during daily activities. His second Research Associate position was focused on better understanding of mechanical loading of knee OA and the relationship to pain-related functional impairment, as part of the wider OATech+ Network project.

Jake joined Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation (School of Natural Sciences) at the University of Kent in September 2022, and now leads and teaches on three Biomechanics modules. 

Jake has been successful on a number of funding applications. Prior to joining Kent, Jake was a named Co-Investigator on an IAA EPSRC grant, as well as a Research Associate position which focused on better understanding mechanical loading of knee osteoarthritis and the relationship to pain-related functional impairment as part of the wider project of OATech+ Network (OATech+ Network).

Since joining Kent, Jake has diversified his research portfolio and is now on several projects and grants investigating such as (1) moving with Parkinson’s Disease, (2) breathing pattern disorders, (3) World Anti-Doping Agency study assessing whether tapentadol and dihydrocodeine enhance performance and represent a health risk to athletes”, as well as input into other projects.  

SPOR4013 - Introduction to Sport and Exercise Biomechanics
SPOR5019 - Applied Sport and Exercise Biomechanics
SPOR6011 - Advances in Sport and Exercise Biomechanics 

• PhD supervisor of Kris Bahadur
• PhD supervisor of Lewis Ball
• PhD supervisor of Jiaqi An

MSc by Research supervisor of Danel Yesim.
Jake is open to supervising new PhD and MSc students and can be contacted via the email above.