About

Cara L. Lewis is a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Boston University Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. She serves as the Director of the Human Adaptation Laboratory within the college. Her research focuses on human movement and adaptation, contributing to the understanding of physical therapy and rehabilitation sciences. She is involved in mentoring students, including those pursuing a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences and Doctorate of Physical Therapy students, with a concentration in Human Movement & Adaptation.

Research topics

• Physical therapy
• Medicine
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Anatomy
• Engineering
• Structural engineering
• Orthodontics
• Pathology
• Surgery
• Nursing
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• EQUAL PAY, EQUAL HEALTH: Player Voices from The Women’s Soccer Health Study

  Journal of Women s Sports Medicine · 2025-12-31

  articleOpen access

  The concept of Equal Pay, Equal Health is motivated by the fact that women’s soccer players not only receive less pay than male players but are also under-represented in sports health research. The Women’s Soccer Health Study: From Head to Toe has collected data on 560 retired elite women’s soccer players in 5 health domains: General, Musculoskeletal, Reproductive, Post-Concussion, and Mental. Previous publications have reported on the high number of musculoskeletal injuries and post-concussion symptoms. Another key finding has been that players with ACL reconstruction have lower post-career satisfaction. To incorporate athlete voices, the players were asked to rank the 5 health domains in order of importance and to report other topics that were missing from the study. The top-ranked area was mental health, and nutrition topped the list of other health issues. Among the 99 written comments, 30% expressed appreciation for this research on female athlete health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The relation of walking forces to structural damage in the knee: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study

  Osteoarthritis and Cartilage · 2025-04-11 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Relation of vertical ground reaction forces while walking to contralateral structural worsening in adults with unilateral knee osteoarthritis: the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study

  Clinical Biomechanics · 2025-11-22

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Increased ankle pushoff alters frontal-plane hip and knee mechanics

  Journal of Biomechanics · 2025-03-08 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction: Effect of altered gluteus maximus strength on the magnitude and direction of hip joint contact forces during simulations of gait

  PLoS ONE · 2025-12-09

  articleOpen access

  [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324451.].

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Iliopsoas strengthening increases hip joint forces during gait: A simulation study

  Journal of Biomechanics · 2025-11-19

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Effect of altered gluteus maximus strength on the magnitude and direction of hip joint contact forces during simulations of gait

  PLoS ONE · 2025-06-23 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome (FAIS), a common and painful hip condition that affects active young adults, is associated with muscle weakness and altered movement patterns during common daily activities. FAIS is believed to be a precursor to osteoarthritis through disrupted loading patterns; thus, understanding how weakness affects joint loading may provide insights into the pathogenesis from FAIS to osteoarthritis. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of gluteus maximus strength on hip joint contact forces during gait using musculoskeletal modeling. Twelve individuals with FAIS and 13 healthy controls were included in the study and five conditions of gluteus maximus strength (50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, and 150% of the model's default strength) were examined. Differences in the magnitude of the resultant joint contact force and directional components of the joint contact force between groups (FAIS vs controls) and between strength conditions were assessed with statistical nonparametric mapping. Joint contact forces were also used to determine the direction of hip loading in the sagittal and frontal planes and the center of the loading area was compared between groups and between strength conditions using independent t-tests and repeated measures analysis of variance, respectively. Joint contact force magnitude and direction did not differ between FAIS and control groups, aside from a brief period of larger medial force in the FAIS group. With both groups combined for remaining analyses, magnitude and direction of the joint contact force changed with the varied strength conditions; specifically, the 50 and 75% strength conditions demonstrated a lower magnitude joint contact force with a more anterior and medial direction. Importantly, these changes were small and of questionable clinical value. Future investigations should model movement changes alongside strength changes and use magnetic resonance imaging to examine a mechanistic link between load and intraarticular joint health.

  PublisherDOI

• Walking speed – rather than hip pain – influences hip moments in individuals with and without mild hip pain

  Journal of Biomechanics · 2025-10-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Assessing Construct Validity of a Pelvic Floor Symptom Scale in Females With Hip Osteoarthritis Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty

  Journal of Women s & Pelvic Health Physical Therapy · 2025-04-01 · 1 citations

  article

  Background: Pelvic floor symptoms are prevalent in aging females with hip osteoarthritis, yet no pelvic floor symptom outcome measure has been validated in this population. The purpose of this study was to determine the construct validity of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-Short Form 20 (PFDI-SF20) in females with hip osteoarthritis undergoing total hip arthroplasty. Convergent and discriminant validity of the PFDI-SF20 were, respectively, investigated using The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF) and the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS). Methods: Construct validity of the PFDI-SF20 was evaluated for female outpatients at a specialized hip orthopedic practice using consecutive convenience sampling (n = 34). Convergent validity was evaluated by calculating correlations between scores on the PFDI-SF20 and scores on the ICIQ-UI SF. Discriminant validity was assessed by calculating correlations between scores on the PFDI-SF20 and scores on the 5 subscales of the HOOS, as the HOOS measures pain, symptoms, activity limitations, function, and quality of life related to the hip, a body region distinct from the pelvic floor. Results: There was a significant positive relationship between the PFDI-SF20 and ICIQ-UI SF scores ( r s = 0.73, P < .001). Relationships between PFDI-SF20 scores and scores on each of the HOOS subscales, ranging from ( r s ) −0.17 to 0.41, were not statistically significant. Discussion: The PFDI-SF20 demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity in females with hip osteoarthritis undergoing total hip arthroplasty. This is the first study to validate a pelvic floor symptom measure in a hip-specific population. It is fast, free, and easy to administer.

  PublisherDOI

• Association of walking cadence to changes in knee pain and physical function: The multicenter osteoarthritis study

  Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open · 2025-02-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Objective: Determine the association of walking cadence to incident and worsening knee pain and physical function over 2 years in adults with or at risk for knee OA. Design: Participants from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis study were included.Cadence was measured using a GAITRite walkway. Incident and worsening knee symptoms, pain with walking, and functional limitations were assessed at baseline and 2 years later. The association of cadence to each outcome was analyzed using log binomial regression. Cadence was assessed continuously as a 10-unit change and categorically using quartiles. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, race, BMI, presence of tibiofemoral OA, depression, and history of knee injury. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for all outcomes adjusted for gait speed and stratified by sex. Results: Among 1600 participants (60.3 ​% female, age 67.1 ​± ​7.7 years), lower cadence was not significantly associated with incident or worsening knee symptoms, pain with walking, or functional limitations. For every 10-step/min decrease in cadence, the risk of incident knee symptoms increased by 10 ​% (RR ​= ​1.10, 95%CI [0.97, 1.25]), though this was not statistically significant and was attenuated after adjusting for gait speed (RR ​= ​0.95, 95%CI [0.80, 1.12]). No significant associations were observed for incident or worsening pain with walking or functional limitations. Sex-stratified analyses revealed inconsistent findings, including an increased risk for incident functional limitations in females (RR ​= ​1.45, 95%CI [1.02, 2.08]), which was attenuated after adjusting for gait speed. Conclusion: Lower cadence was not significantly associated with pain and function, suggesting that the interplay between cadence, gait speed, and clinical outcomes warrants further investigation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Effect of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) on hip motion in young adults

  NIH · $711k · 2013–2019

• Sex-specific movement differences in young adults with and without hip pain

  NIH · $394k · 2012–2015

• Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST) Second Renewal - UAB Clinical Center

  NIH · $13.2M · 2001–2022

• NIH Grant F32HD055010

  NIH · $96k · 2009

Frequent coauthors

• Mei‐Ling Shyu

  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

  80 shared

• W. Art Chaovalitwongse

  80 shared

• Nadine Sarter

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  80 shared

• Marko Delimar

  University of Zagreb

  80 shared

• R. A. Hess

  80 shared

• Changxu Wu

  Tsinghua University

  80 shared

• Roberto De Marca

  80 shared

• Ieee-Usa Chris Brantley

  Drexel University

  80 shared

Labs

• Human Adaptation LabPI

Awards & honors

• 2023 Reviewer of the Year, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
• 2022 Nominee, Supervisor of the Year, Boston University
• 2019 Nominee, Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Educat…