Foundation recipients in the news.

Ann E Barr, PT, PhD, Associate Professor, Physical Therapy Department, College of Health Professions, Temple University, a 1998 and 1999 NIFTI recipient, and colleagues published a commentary, "Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Hand and Wrist: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology and Sensorimotor Changes," in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy (2004;34110]: 610-627). Barr et al reviewed and summarized selected epidemiological studies of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) of the hand and wrist published since 1998, selected animal studies on underlying tissue pathophysiology in response to repetitive movement or tissue loading, Barr's Foundation-funded research, and her subsequent federally funded research in this area. The commentary also discussed corroborating evidence from human studies for various tissue pathomechanisms that have been suggested in animal models.

Barr and colleagues concluded that repetitive, hand-intensive movements, alone or in combination with other physical, nonphysical, and non-occupational risk factors, contribute to the development of hand and wrist WMSDs. Possible pathophysiological mechanisms of tissue injury include inflammation that is followed by repair or fibrotic scarring, peripheral nerve injury, and central nervous system reorganization. Clinicians, they argue, should consider all of these pathomechanisms when examining and treating patients with hand or wrist WMSDs.

Michael Schubert, PT, PhD, John Hopkins University, a 2000 PODS II recipient, coauthored, "Prediction of Fall Risk Reduction as Measured by Dynamic Gait Index in Individuals With Unilateral Vestibular Hypofunction," published an article in Otology and Neurology (2004;25:746-751). Forty-seven patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction underwent rehabilitation that included gait and balance exercises and adaptation exercises designed to improve gaze stability. A model was developed using initial Dynamic Gait Index and dynamic visual acuity scores to predict fall risk reduction. The research concluded that vestibular rehabilitation is effective in reducing fall risk for people with unilateral vestibular deficit. Schubert's research was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and by the Foundation for Physical Therapy.

Carolee Winstein, PhD, PT, FAPTA, Department of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California--the principal investigator of the Foundation-funded clinical research network, PTClinResNet--is the co-principal investigator of a $1.8-million National Institutes of Health (NIH) P20 planning grant for a new, interdisciplinary "Exploratory Center" for stroke rehabilitation research. This planning grant was recently awarded to Thomas McNeill, PhD, Department of Cell Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC). "Each year in the United States more than 700,000 people have a stroke, and nearly 450,000 of those survive with some form of neurologic impairment or disability. This number is expected to double during the next 50 years, making the need to develop new and innovative rehabilitation programs to treat the growing number of stroke survivors a national priority," said McNeill.

Winstein and McNeill are part of an interdisciplinary team of 9 researchers--7 from USC and 2 from the University of Texas at Austin. This team will begin by focusing on rehabilitation strategies for the arm and hand in people who have had a stroke. "We are collaborating with researchers from the University of Texas because they have developed animal models of stroke that investigate the same motor-skills strategies that we are using with patients. These models will provide new insight into the cellular mechanisms that drive the recovery process," McNeill stated.

The researchers are planning to develop virtual environment tests, including computational models that will evaluate and help rehabilitate human functional performance under a range of conditions. They will link their clinical and experimental studies with the University of Southern California's bio-informatics group headed by Stan Azen, PhD, Professor of Preventative Medicine, in order to develop new data-mining tools for sharing and analyzing data between projects. In addition, they will explore whether certain molecules in the brain assist injured neurons in the growth process. Azen leads PTClinResNet's Data Management Center.

"In my field of physical rehabilitation, it is well known that the translation of basic science discoveries to clinical practice through a systematic progression of developmental steps can take anywhere from 7 to 11 years. If the preclinical human studies can be conducted in parallel with the animal studies, we may be able to effectively reduce the bench-to-bedside translation time by 50%," said Winstein.

Foundation-Supported Studies in Physical Therapy

This article, reporting on a Foundation-supported study, can be found in this month's issue of Physical Therapy:

The Relative Kicking Frequency of Infants Born Full-term and Preterm During Learning and Short-term and Long-term Memory Periods of the Mobile Paradigm / Heathcock et al (p 8)