Volodalen Laboratory

Pioneering Motor Preferences Research

Who is Volodalen?


Volodalen® is a cutting-edge research laboratory specializing in the study of motor preferences™ and human movement. With over 20 years of scientific research, Volodalen® has become the global leader in understanding how individual biomechanics shape performance, injury prevention, and training methodologies.

Our research is rooted in the belief that there is no universal way to move—every athlete has a unique motor preference™ that determines their most efficient and natural movement patterns. By respecting these preferences, we help athletes and coaches optimize performance while reducing injury risks.

Mission

At Volodalen®, our mission is to revolutionize athletic training by integrating scientific insights into real-world coaching practices. Through state-of-the-art technology and data-driven research, we provide personalized movement assessments that empower athletes to train smarter and perform at their peak.

What they do?

  • Motor Preference™ Profiling: Identifying whether an athlete is Aerial™ or Terrestrial™, and how this impacts movement efficiency in sports.
  • Biomechanical Assessments: Using advanced motion analysis, electromyography (EMG), and pressure mapping to study individual movement patterns.
  • Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation: Reducing the risk of injuries by aligning training methods with an athlete’s natural biomechanics.
  • Performance Optimization: Helping professional athletes and teams tailor their training, conditioning, and recovery strategies based on their motor profiles.
  • Scientific Collaboration: Partnering with top researchers, sports organizations, and medical professionals to advance the field of movement science.

Why It Matters?

Traditional training methods often impose a one-size-fits-all approach, leading to inefficiencies and increased injury risks. Volodalen’s research challenges this paradigm by providing individualized training solutions based on each athlete's biomechanics, muscle coordination, and nervous system responses.

By understanding how the body naturally moves, athletes can: 

✔ Improve movement efficiency
✔ Reduce fatigue and strain
✔ Maximize strength and agility
✔ Prevent overuse injuries

Trusted by Elite Athletes & Teams

Volodalen’s methodology is widely used in professional sports, including running, soccer, golf, track and field, horse riding, tennis... Their scientific findings have helped elite athletes achieve higher performance levels while staying healthier and more resilient.


Cyrille Gindre
Ph.D. in sports biomechanics 

Learn more about Cyrille

Cyrille is the CEO of Volodalen. He obtained a Ph.D. in sports biomechanics at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France, in 2009. He is the inventor of the concept of Natural Motor Preferences. Today, he develops all the new concept adopted by Volodalen and trains health and sports professionals to use Motor Preferences in their practice.

Thesis : Modélisation des relations entraînements – performances – adaptations physiologiques chez des athlètes spécialistes de demi-fond court et de fond

Thibault LUSSIANA

Ph.D. in sports biomechanics  

Thibault obtained a Ph.D. in sports biomechanics at the University of Besançon, France, in 2016. He conducted the first research study based on Motor Preferences. Today, he coordinates the scientific studies carried out at Volodalen and trains health and sports professionals to use Motor Preferences in rehabilitation and sports training.

Thesis : Terrien et Aérien, concept, validation et implications

Bastiaan BREINE

Ph.D. in health sciences

Bastiaan obtained a Ph.D. in health sciences in 2015 at the Ghent University, Belgium. He has over ten years of experience in biomechanics research for international sports companies such as Mizuno, Nike, Skechers and Decathlon. For the last four years he is part of the Volodalen research team and is responsible for the coaching of endurance athletes.

Thesis : Initial foot contact patterns in shod running, relationship with speed and impact intensity.

Aurélien PATOZ

Ph.D. in sports biomechanics 
Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry  

Aurélien obtained a Ph.D. in sports biomechanics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2023 and a Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry at the polytechnic school of Lausanne in 2017. He is data scientist at Volodalen and his mission involves developing algorithms to measure the running biomechanics using inertial sensors.

Thesis : Geometric integrators for nonadiabatic molecular quantum dynamics induced by the interaction with the electromagnetic field.

Audrey Chaperon

Strength and Conditioning coach

Jonathan Vanden Abeele

Bachelor's degree, Teaching of physical education and training 
Strength and Conditioning coach

Eloise Pavlik

Physiotherapist

Barbara Warpelin

Administrative Manager

Examination of Running Pattern Consistency Across Speeds

🔗 https://volodalen.com/wp-content/uplo...

Did you know that your running style changes with speed?

At the Volodalen Swiss Sport Lab, our research team analyzed running styles and uncovered fascinating insights.

For speeds ranging from 10 to 18 km/h, runners, on average, reduce their duty factor by 8%, dropping from 38% to 30%. However, some remain grounded, others more aerial, and some maintain stability despite speed variations.

Mind to Move: Differences in Running Biomechanics Between Sensing and Intuition Shod Runners

Discover how your personality type can influence your running biomechanics! Our groundbreaking study reveals key differences between Sensing and Intuition runners, shedding light on ways to optimize performance and prevent injuries.

Curious to learn more? Read the full article here:
🔗 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art... 

Examination of Running Pattern Consistency Across Speeds

Did you know that your running style is unique to you?

At the Volodalen Swiss Sport Lab, our research team examined individual running patterns and discovered that people spontaneously and unconsciously adopt their own movement strategies—an auto-optimized choice that is essential for developing an efficient stride.

Our groundbreaking study reveals that describing a running pattern with a single variable is challenging due to its complexity. Instead, we analyzed it as a global system with multiple interconnected variables, each showing differences among runners.

Curious to learn more? Read the full article here:
🔗 https://volodalen.com/.../article_sci....

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

As a world leader in scientific research on natural Motor Preferences™, Volodalen offers you a list of scientific and general public publications.


Aerial™ and Terrestrial™ patterns: A novel approach to analyzing human running.

Do subjective assessments of running patterns reflect objective parameters?

The implications of time on the ground on running economy: less is not always better.

Intra & inter-rater reliability of the Volodalen® scale to assess Aerial™ and Terrestrial™ running forms.

Duty factor reflects lower limb kinematics of running.

Does Characterizing Global Running Pattern Help to Prescribe Individualized Strength Training in Recreational Runners?

Different plantar flexors neuro-muscular and mechanical characteristics depending on the preferred running form.

The effect of natural preferences on serving biomechanics: a new approach to the motor skills of tennis players.

A multivariate polynomial regression to reconstruct ground contact and flight times based on a sine wave model for vertical ground reaction force and measured effective timings.

A single sacral-mounted inertial measurement unit to estimate peak vertical ground reaction force, contact time, and flight time in running.

The Nike Vaporfly 4%: a game changer to improve performance without biomechanical explanation yet.

Examination of running pattern consistency across speeds.

Feel your stride and find your preferred running speed.

Similar running economy with different running patterns along the Aerial™-Terrestrial™ continuum.

Motor Preferences™ in running and quiet standing.

Recognition of foot strike pattern in Asian recreational runners.

Duty factor is a viable measure to classify spontaneous running forms.

Footstrike pattern at the 10 km and 39 km points of the Singapore marathon in recreational runners.

Predicting temporal gait kinematics: anthropometric characteristics and global running pattern matter.

Both a single sacral marker and the whole-body center of mass accurately estimate peak vertical ground reaction force in running.

Estimating effective contact and flight times using a sacral-mounted inertial measurement unit.

A novel kinematic detection of foot-strike and toe-off events during non instrumented treadmill running to estimate contact time.

There is no global running pattern more economic than another at endurance running speeds.

Non‐South East Asians have a better running economy and different anthropometrics and biomechanics than South East Asians.

PIMP your stride: preferred running form to guide individualized injury rehabilitation.

Duty factor and foot‐strike pattern do not represent similar running pattern at the individual level.

Comparison of different machine learning models to enhance sacral acceleration-based estimations of running stride temporal variables and peak vertical ground reaction force

Concurrent endurance training with either plyometric or dynamic body-weight training both improve running economy with minimal or no changes in running biomechanics

Accurate estimation of peak vertical ground reaction force using the duty factor in level treadmill running