Dr Dawn O'Dowd
Lecturer in Applied Biomechanics and Human Movement
My profile
Biography
Dawn is a Lecturer in Applied Biomechanics in The Department of Sport & Exercise Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University and she supports Great Britain’s Para Swimming Team as a support scientist. Dawn completed her PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University and subsequently worked as Research Associate on a World Para Swimming Classification Project.
During her PhD, Dawn worked at a neuromuscular centre for adults with neuromuscular conditions to investigate the effects of resistance exercise training on biomechanical, physiological, and psychological adaptations in adults living with muscular dystrophy.
Dawn’s work as Research Associate, focused on developing valid measures of impairment and establishing the relationship between impairment measures and swimming performance. The research tackled the challenges of trying to quantify the severity of a Para athlete’s impairment, in order to assign them to an appropriate class for fair competition.
Dawn’s current research projects focus on 1) understanding adaptations to resistance exercise in persons with neuromuscular conditions, 2) examining movement of Para swimmers to develop a new, evidence-based system to classify Para swimmers for competition and 3) factors influencing participation in Para netball in the UK.
Dawn provides scientific support to Great Britain’s Para Swimming Team at major national and international competitions, including World Championships. She has done this since 2014 and in doing so, has helped sustain Great Britain’s position as one of the top nations in Para swimming competition
Teaching
Supervision
First Supervisor:
Yu-Hsien Lee - effect of motor impairment on front crawl swimming technique and performance; Doctor of Philosophy.
Research outputs
-
Journal articles
O'Dowd, D.N., Hogarth, L., Burkett, B., Osborough, C., Daly, D., Sanders, R., Payton, C. (2023) 'Froude efficiency and velocity fluctuation in forearm-amputee front crawl: implications for para swimming classification.' Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 55(7) pp. 1296-1306.
O’Dowd, D.N., Bostock, E.L., Smith, D., Morse, C.I., Orme, P., Payton, C.J. (2021) 'The effects of 12 weeks’ resistance training on psychological parameters and quality of life in adults with Facioscapulohumeral, Becker, and Limb–girdle dystrophies.' Disability and Rehabilitation, 44(20) pp. 5950-5956.
O'Dowd, D.N., Bostock, E.L., Smith, D., Morse, C.I., Orme, P., Payton, C.J. (2021) 'Psychological parameters impact health-related quality of life in mental and physical domains in adults with muscular dystrophy.' Neuromuscular Disorders, 31(4) pp. 328-335.
Pessali-Marques, B., Peixoto, G.H.C., Cabido, C.E.T., André Gustavo, P.A., Rodrigues, S.A., Tourino, F.D., O'Dowd, D., Chagas, M.H. (2020) 'Biomechanical Response to Acute Stretching in Dancers and Non-Dancers.' Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, 24(1) pp. 12-18.
Bostock, E.L., O'Dowd, D.N., Payton, C.J., Smith, D., Orme, P., Edwards, B.T., Morse, C.I. (2019) 'The Effects of Resistance Exercise Training on Strength and Functional Tasks in Adults With Limb-Girdle, Becker, and Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophies.' Frontiers in Neurology, 10
-
Conference papers
O'Dowd, D., Morse, C., Bostock, E., Smith, D., Payton, C. (2018) 'Is resistance training feasible and beneficial for adults living with muscular dystrophy?.' In British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences Annual Conference. Harrogate, 27/11/2018 - 28/11/2018.
O'Dowd, D., Morse, C., Bostock, E., Smith, D., Payton, C. (2018) 'O 081 – Is progressive resistance training an effective intervention in adults with muscular dystrophy?.' 65. Elsevier, pp. 166-167.