Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Development, Validation And Application Of A New Fornix Template For Studies Of Aging And Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease, Christopher A. Brown, Nathan F. Johnson, Amelia J. Anderson-Mooney, Gregory A. Jicha, Leslie M. Shaw, John Q. Trojanowski, Linda J. Van Eldik, Frederick A. Schmitt, Charles D. Smith, Brian T. Gold

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

We developed a merged younger-older adult template of the fornix and demonstrated its utility for studies of aging and preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). In Experiment 1, probabilistic tractography was used to reconstruct the fornix in younger and older adults and successful streamlines were then averaged to create a merged template in standard space. The new template includes the majority of the fornix from the hippocampal formation to the subcallosal region and the thalamus/hypothalamus. In Experiment 2, the merged template was validated as an appropriate measure for studies of aging, with comparisons against manual tracing measures indicating identical spatial coverage in …

Temporary Nerve Block At Selected Digits Revealed Hand Motor Deficits In Grasping Tasks, Aude Cateron, Kerry Mcpartlan, Christina Gioeli, Emily Reid, Matt Turturro, Barry Hahn, Cynthia Benson, Wei Zhang

Publications and Research

Peripheral sensory feedback plays a crucial role in ensuring correct motor execution throughout hand grasp control. Previous studies utilized local anesthesia to deprive somatosensory feedback in the digits or hand, observations included sensorimotor deficits at both corticospinal and peripheral levels. However, the questions of how the disturbed and intact sensory input integrate and interact with each other to assist the motor program execution, and whether the motor coordination based on motor output variability between affected and non-affected elements (e.g., digits) becomes interfered by the local sensory deficiency, have not been answered. The current study aims to investigate the effect of …

Neural Control Of Tongue Movements Across Effort Levels, Megan Rovang, Angela M. Dietsch

UCARE Research Products

Background

A hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a mismatch between the perceived effort and actual forces exerted during functional activities such as speech. Current evidence supports therapy to help reset this perception of effort, but the neurological underpinnings of such treatments are unclear. This study examined brain activity during tongue movements performed at varying levels of effort to determine (1) which brain areas are involved in each task, and (2) which areas, if any, scale in activation according to effort level. These results, considered with the neurological changes associated with PD, can be used to develop and refine treatment …

Encoding Of Saltatory Tactile Velocity In The Adult Orofacial Somatosensory System, Rebecca Custead

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Processing dynamic tactile inputs is a key function of somatosensory systems. Spatial velocity encoding mechanisms by the nervous system are important for skilled movement production and may play a role in recovery of motor function following neurological insult. Little is known about tactile velocity encoding in trigeminal networks associated with mechanosensory inputs to the face, or the consequences of movement.

High resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the neural substrates of velocity encoding in the human orofacial somatosensory system during unilateral saltatory pneumotactile inputs to perioral hairy skin in 20 healthy adults. A custom multichannel, scalable …

Can Gait Signatures Provide Quantitative Measures For Aiding Clinical Decision-Making? A Systematic Meta-Analysis Of Gait Variability Behavior In Patients With Parkinson’S Disease, Niklas König Ignasiak

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

A disturbed, inconsistent walking pattern is a common feature of patients with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Such extreme variability in both temporal and spatial parameters of gait has been associated with unstable walking and an elevated prevalence of falls. However, despite their ability to discretise healthy from pathological function, normative variability values for key gait parameters are still missing. Furthermore, an understanding of each parameter's response to pathology, as well as the inter-parameter relationships, has received little attention. The aim of this systematic literature review and meta-analysis was therefore to define threshold levels for pathological gait variability as well as to …

1st Place Research Paper: The Effectiveness Of Yoga Therapy On An Adult, Post-Stroke Population: A Systematic Review, Baylor E. Hogan

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

Objectives: The objectives of this paper are to (1) give a brief overview of stroke pathophysiology (2) outline yoga as a therapeutic strategy (3) present the current research on yoga rehabilitation for stroke (4) discuss the efficacy of yoga for chronic stroke.

Methods: Relevant terms were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Academic OneFile, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar electronic databases. Studies were excluded if they contained pediatric stroke, non-stroke neurological diseases, or subjects with comorbidities. Statistically significant data was extracted for the primary measures of nine trials.

Results: Four studies measured statistically significant outcomes (p<0.05). These included improvements in balance, independence, endurance, trait anxiety, fear of falling, self-efficacy, pain, strength, range of motion (ROM), activity, participation, and quality of life (QoL). Discussion: Lack of statistical significance in post-stroke depression (PSD) measures may be due to inadequate intervention length or a psychosocial cause of depression. Improvements in balance, flexibility, and strength from yoga participation permitted progress in disability and functionality. Finally, overall health-related quality of life (HRQL) is affected by the severity of mental disorders and physical disability. Yoga can have a positive effect in both domains and therefore, may improve HRQL.

Conclusion: …

Revealing The Quality Of Movement: A Meta-Analysis Review To Quantify The Thresholds To Pathological Variability During Standing And Walking, Niklas König Ignasiak

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Neuromotor processes are inherently noisy, which results in variability during movement and fluctu-ations in motor control. Although controversial, low levels of variability are traditionally considered healthy, while increased levels are thought to be pathological. This systematic review and meta-analysisof the literature investigates the thresholds between healthy and pathological task variability.

After examining 13,195 publications, 109 studies were included. Results from over 3000 healthy sub-jects and 2775 patients revealed an overall positive effect size of pathology on variability of 0.59 forwalking and 0.80 for sway. For the coefficient of variation of stride time (ST) and sway area (SA), upperthresholds of 2.6% …

1st Place Contest Entry: The Effectiveness Of Yoga Therapy On An Adult, Post-Stroke Population: A Systematic Review, Baylor E. Hogan

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Baylor Hogan's submission for the 2016 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. She wrote about the effects of yoga therapy on the physical and mental wellbeing of stroke patients. You can read the final essay that came out of her research here.

Baylor is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in Kinesiology. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Elizabeth DeBaets.

Prehabilitation Impact On Post-Operative Risk, Readmission Rates And Patient Satisfaction, Pamela Fields

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Prehabilitation programs may improve 30-day readmission rates, post-operative infections and patient satisfaction in obese total joint replacement (TJR) patients. Joint replacement patients who participate in prehabilitation have improved physical function and patient satisfaction. In an effort to improve TJR patients’ mobility and recovery, a prehabilitation performance improvement project was implemented at a local wellness center.

Method: The Institute of Healthcare Improvement, Triple Aim Initiative (IHI, TAI) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) performance improvement goals provided the project foundation (IHI, 2015; CMS; 2015). The physical exercise routine utilized in this program was identified as appropriate for use with …

Anatomy And Neurobiology Of Pain, Ruth Werner, Geoffrey M. Bove

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

This chapter examines some of the basic human anatomy and neurobiology related to the perception of pain. In this context we will discuss how the nervous, endocrine, and musculoskeletal/fascial systems all contribute to our experience of this important sensation. We will look at some of the pathologic changes that occur when short-term pain becomes a long-term problem, and how stress can exacerbate pain perception. Finally, we will discuss how manual therapies may access peripheral nervous system structures in order to address some of the factors that can contribute to chronic pain patterns.