Research in rehabilitation and motor control
Focusing on the major challenges of trauma, disease, and inactivity.
This area of research spans both natural science disciplines and social sciences, to create new techniques, robust findings, and socially relevant outcomes. For example, research such as how the brain controls movement and how it allows us to - seemingly effortlessly - to learn new motor skills. It includes understanding how the brain transforms vestibular signals into appropriate responses for balance, exploring how to optimise the management of musculoskeletal conditions like neck pain and low back pain, and developing rehabilitative strategies to help people, including from the military, manage or overcome trauma.
The research unites international expertise across a number of areas including:
- Musculoskeletal science
- Sensorimotor neuroscience and learning
- Human motion analysis
- Educational rehabilitation strategies
This area of research incorporates the Centre of Precision Rehabilitation for Spinal Pain (CPR Spine) which uses cutting edge technology and multidisciplinary expertise to collectively advance the assessment of patients with spinal pain
Research case studies:
- Arm exercise to improve stability and balance in spinal cord injury
- Cerebrovascular health following spinal cord injury
- The impact of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation on autonomic cardiovascular control and upper-body exercise performance in individuals with a spinal cord injury (STIMEX-SCI)
- Diagnosing balance disorders with Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation
- Return to play following concussion
- Understanding visuomotor coordination in object interception
- Using robots to improve motor learning