Peter Jo

ABSTRACT

Neurological injuries such as stroke have a devastating impact on motor control. Walking is often impaired and many people have problems with mobility years after their injury. While some stroke survivors recover function, many others suffer life-long deficits. Their recovery reaches a plateau and they are expected to live with only minor improvements in their function. But what if they still had much room for improvement? What if their walking could get better with more or different rehab?

Movement problems after stroke have traditionally been thought to result from weakness, loss of range of motion or spasticity. While these variables play a role, insights into neuroplasticity have permitted a more optimistic outlook and a widening suspicion that the ceiling for recovery may be higher than what was once thought possible. Still -rehabilitation is complex and difficult. Although clinicians and researchers are optimistic, it is a cautious optimism until we have a better understanding of motor control.

How can we judge whether or not a person’s motor control (in walking) is improving through rehabilitation? By walking faster than during pre-rehab? Walking further? Falling less? Maybe all of the above. Movement variability (in walking) may provide a critical insight into motor control and has attracted the interest of researchers.
In this talk, we’ll explore these topics and look at some of our data on knee-ankle movement variability in stroke patients.