Walking is regulated and coordinated through complex control mechanisms within the human sensory motor system, allowing individuals to adapt to both internal and external challenges and perturbations (Full et al., 2002). During this regulation to achieve stable walking, natural fluctuations (i.e. movement variability) are present between strides in both the […]
Our ability to sense the position of our body, known as proprioception, is fundamental for controlling how we move and interact during daily activities (Proske and Gandevia, 2012). People who have persistent pain (i.e., pain that lasts for more than three months) find it difficult to sense the position of […]
Intensive care beds, which cater for critically ill patients, are predicted to represent >30% of all future hospital beds. Around a third of critically ill patients require mechanical ventilation to help them breathe. While a lifesaving intervention, mechanical ventilation increases breathing and heart related complications, decreases quality of life, and […]
Fluid intelligence, sometimes called abstract reasoning, is the ability to think logically and solve problems; a highly valued human capacity. Over 70% of patients admitted to hospital with stroke have cognitive impairment, but cognition is rarely a target of rehabilitation treatments. Moderate-vigorous intensity aerobic exercise is a potent brain stimulus […]
On November 26, some of the finest minds in medical science will meet in Sydney, Australia to discuss the latest research on motor impairments – the diseases or health conditions that disrupt function of the human motor system (brain, nerves, and muscles) and cause physical disability. The event that will […]
We don’t normally have to think about our breathing and that’s because breathing is handled by a subconscious part of the brain called the medulla. The medulla automatically controls our breathing as well as our heart rate and blood pressure (Del Negro et al. 2018). It sends neural signals to the […]
Over the past 4.5 years, researchers from all over the world have written non-technical summaries on their research for the Motor Impairment Blog. Consequently, the Blog contains a rich archive of information on topics such as muscle strength and weakness, falls and balance, sensation, pain, motor control, and research methods. […]
It is well known that the nervous system is capable of change. One way that change occurs is through the strengthening or weakening of connections between nerve cells; a process termed synaptic plasticity. In the laboratory, we can produce synaptic changes using stimulation techniques that activate various parts of the […]
How do we learn things? Sometimes learning occurs over many trials but other times it occurs after single episodes. The traditional view of learning has invoked Hebbian plasticity (Hebb 1949). Here, the concept is that “neurones that wire together, fire together”. Enhanced firing of a post-synaptic cell is thought to […]
Much can be learned from case studies of individual patients. This has been shown more than once in the field of stroke research. The observations by the illustrious neuroanatomist Dr. Brodal of his own stroke are an example (Brodal 1973). A paper recently published in the Journal of Neurophysiology provides […]
