I am Taija Finni (name used in scientific conduct), officially Taija Juutinen (born in 1972), professor of kinesiology since 2010, vice dean responsible of education at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Ģֱ, Finland. After receiving PhD under supervision of prof. Paavo Komi, I did my post doc at UCLA with profs. Reggie V. Edgerton and Shantanu Sinha before returning to Ģֱ. I am docent of exercise physiology at the University of Eastern Finland.
Main research themes
Achilles tendon research has been my interest since my PhD where I utilized in vivo force transducers to assess forces in humans. I have published critical reviews related to methodology of assessing tendon properties, and examined internal tendon movement in rats and in humans. Project related to Achilles tendon research are UNRESAT (2019 -2023) and ACHILLES (2023-2027), funded by the Reserach Council of Finland.
Physical activity-related research has taken many paths including assessing muscle inactivity and activity during daily life (EMG 24-study, InPact, CHIPASE projects) with Olli Tikkanen, Arto Pesola, Arto Laukkanen and Gao Ying.
Neuromuscular function-theme contains several smaller projects, often done with students. EXECP project examining effects of exercise on children and young adults with cerebral palsy has been going since 2016 and is in a reporting and dissemination phase. Pedro Valadao defended his PhD thesis on EXECP project on March 8, 2024.
