On May 2, 2005, the Clinical Movement Analysis (CMA) Laboratory located in the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center of the National Institutes of Health officially opened, providing the Physical Disabilities Branch state-of-the-art facilities for capturing human movement data used in research on a wide variety of movement disorders and diseases.

The CMA Laboratory replaced the PDB's previous motion capture facility and provides much greater flexibility, space, and options to scientists for ongoing research projects. Additionally, construction on the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center was completed in late 2004, and the portion of the building where the CMA Laboratory resides was specifically designed around the highly specialized floor of the lab.

The main floor of the room is a one-of-a-kind, 1-million pound, 30-foot by 30-foot block of poured vibration-dampened concrete on its own foundation and quite literally separated from the surrounding building by a covered 3-inch air gap. The center floor area of the lab contains extremely sensitive instrumentation, and this air gap isolates the equipment from minute vibrations such as elevators, heating and air conditioning, and even individuals walking down hallways inherent throughout large buildings.

In January of 2009, the name of the research group was changed from the Physical Disabilities Branch to the Functional & Applied Biomechanics Section.

Clinical Center News, June 2005 - Outlining the CMA Laboratory Opening