Knowledge about how the brain and spinal cord control human movement can be applied to improve recovery from nervous system injuries. Among the areas we study:

• Motor Learning and Neuroplasticity: Underlying neural substrates and brain mechanisms of motor learning to design and test novel non-pharmacologic interventions for motor skill acquisition
• Computational Motor Control: Computational models of motor learning and neural plasticity in healthy and lesioned brains
• Neuromechanics: Interactions between muscles, sensory organs and the central nervous system to explain motion
• Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation: Integrative approaches to quantify motor dysfunction and identify factors that guide learning, recovery and rehabilitation after stroke
• Pelvic Floor Muscle Control and Rehabilitation: Basic research into how brain networks control pelvic floor muscles and how these networks become dysfunctional
• Multi-Muscle Coordination: Interpretation of kinesiological data to create models of movement involving joints and muscle coordination
• Noninvasive Neuroimaging and Neuro-Stimulation: Various techniques to noninvasively image and modulate the structure or function of the nervous system
• Brain Connectomics of Movement Control: Brain mapping to learn the functional and structural connectivity of separate motor cortical centers involved in controlling individual muscles
• Motor Control during Upper-Extremity Tasks: How the structure of the body and properties of the neuromuscular system cooperate to produce versatile function and give rise to disability
• Smart Technologies to Promote Recovery: Development of techniques and tools to quantify neuromuscular control

Learn more:

• Stacey Dusing, PhD, and the Motor Development Lab
• James Finley, PhD, and the Locomotor Control Lab
• Beth Fisher, PhD, PT, and the Neuroplasticity and Imaging Laboratory
• Jason Kutch, PhD, and the Applied Mathematical Physiology Laboratory
• Sook-Lei Liew, PhD and the Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory
• Kristan Leech, PhD, DPT, PT and the Gait Rehabilitation and Motor Learning Laboratory
• Lori Michener, PhD and the Clinical Biomechanics Orthopedic Outcomes Research Laboratory
• Christopher Powers, PhD, PT, and the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Laboratory
• Nicolas Schweighofer, PhD, and the Computational Neuro-Rehabilitation Laboratory
• Susan Sigward, PhD, PT, and the Human Performance Laboratory
• Francisco Valero-Cuevas, PhD, and the Brain-Body Dynamics Laboratory
• Carolee Winstein, PhD, PT, and the Motor Behavior and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory
• ENIGMA Stroke Recovery, which brings together a network of stroke neuroimaging centers focused on understanding the mechanisms of stroke recovery