Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Beauty That Moves: Dance For Parkinson’S Effects On Affect, Self-Efficacy, Gait Symmetry, And Dual Task Performance, Cecilia Fontanesi, Joseph F. X. Desouza

Publications and Research

Background: Previous studies have investigated the effects of dance interventions on Parkinson’s motor and non-motor symptoms in an effort to develop an integrated view of dance as a therapeutic intervention. This within-subject study questions whether dance can be simply considered a form of exercise by comparing a Dance for Parkinson’s class with a matched-intensity exercise session lacking dance elements like music, metaphorical language, and social reality of art-partaking.

Methods: In this repeated-measure design, 7 adults with Parkinson’s were tested four times; (i) before and (ii) after a Dance for Parkinson’s class, as well as (iii) before and (iv) after a …

Use Of Plumage And Gular Pouch Color To Evaluate Condition Of Oil Spill Rehabilitated California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis Californicus) Post-Release, Deborah L. Jaques, Kyra L. Mills, Barton G. Selby, Richard R. Veit, Michael H. Ziccardi

Publications and Research

Sublethal effects of oil spills may dampen seabird rehabilitation success due to lingering negative impacts of contamination and stress on reproduction and long-term survival. These effects can be difficult to measure while birds are in care as well as once birds are released. Expression of sexually selected traits that are sensitive to condition can provide information on physiological status of birds. We evaluated plumage molt and gular pouch skin color of California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) following oil contamination and rehabilitation to test for differences between previously oiled and rehabilitated (post-spill) and presumably uncontaminated pelicans. Post-spill pelicans released with …

Changes In Reach To Eat Movement Control After Intensive Training For Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy, Yaching Hung, Aryeh D. Spingarn

Publications and Research

Ya Ching Hung EdD. and Aryeh Spingarn EP-C, CSCS, EIM-Level 2 Queens College, City University of New York Department of Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences, Changes in Reach to Eat Movement Control After Intensive Training for Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy. Purpose: The current study compares the effects of an intervention on children with Congenital Hemiplegia during a simple eating task using kinematic analyses. Previous studies looked at simple bimanual tasks such as opening a drawer; no studies examined the effects of intensive training on unimanual reach, grasp, and eat movement control. Methods: 20 children with Unilateral Spastic Cerebral Palsy …

Activity-Based Therapies For Repair Of The Corticospinal System Injured During Development, Kathleen M. Friel, Preston T. J. A. Williams, Najet Serradj, Samit Chakrabarty, John H. Martin

Publications and Research

This review presents the mechanistic underpinnings of corticospinal tract (CST) development, derived from animal models, and applies what has been learned to inform neural activity-based strategies for CST repair.We first discuss that, in normal development, early bilateral CST projections are later refined into a dense crossed CST projection, with maintenance of sparse ipsilateral projections. Using a novel mouse genetic model, we show that promoting the ipsilateral CST projection produces mirror movements, common in hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP), suggesting that ipsilateral CST projections become maladaptive when they become abnormally dense and strong.We next discuss howanimal studies support a developmental “competition rule” …

Motor Cortex Electrical Stimulation Augments Sprouting Of The Corticospinal Tract And Promotes Recovery Of Motor Function, Jason B. Carmel, John H. Martin

Publications and Research

The corticospinal system—with its direct spinal pathway, the corticospinal tract (CST) – is the primary system for controlling voluntary movement. Our approach to CST repair after injury in mature animals was informed by our finding that activity drives establishment of connections with spinal cord circuits during postnatal development. After incomplete injury in maturity, spared CST circuits sprout, and partially restore lost function. Our approach harnesses activity to augment this injury-dependent CST sprouting and to promote function. Lesion of the medullary pyramid unilaterally eliminates all CST axons from one hemisphere and allows examination of CST sprouting from the unaffected hemisphere. We …