Taryn Klarner Presents Seminar
While the brain is the body’s command center, connections within the spinal cord control rhythmic activities like walking. The brain contributes to such movements, but spinal cord circuits can coordinate muscle activity on their own, relying on feedback from moving limbs to regulate the pattern. When these connections are lost or altered due to injury to the brain or spinal cord, movement in the arms and legs may be greatly reduced depending on the location and severity of the injury. A major focus of the research in the Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory is on understanding how coordinated muscle activity in arms and legs can be improved after neurotrauma. Studies are conducted in participants who are neurologically intact as well as with individuals who have had strokes or spinal cord injuries to determine the extent to which enhanced sensory feedback techniques can retrain spinal cord circuits and improve limb coordination. Additionally projects aimed at examining targeted, training induced plastic adaptation of function after neurotrauma are ongoing. New knowledge gained from this research may lead to more effective methods of improving motor coordination following brain or spinal cord injury. These therapies could be used to help improve walking recovery after neurotrauma.