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Janis J. Daly, adjunct associate professor in the department
of neurology at CWRU's School of Medicine, was recently awarded
a grant of $997,000 (2002-2005) by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (Office of Rehabilitation Research and Development) to
develop innovative motor learning interventions that are effective
following stroke.
Janis J. Daly
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Daly's motor learning laboratory is located in the research service,
Cleveland Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Her research will include investigation of patient response
to applied technologies to help stroke victims regain use of their
arms. This will include robotics and functional neuromuscular
stimulation (FNS), an electrical signal that can directly activate
a muscle (within an individual's comfort level). Research also
will be done through the use of a robot that cradles an individual's
forearm and hand. The patient will then practice coordination
while the robot assists, allows or resists a movement.
Currently, Daly researches technology to help people walk following
a stroke. For Daly's FNS gait (walk) system, the timing of eight
channels of stimulation is coordinated to produce the muscle activations
that occur during walking for some muscles at the hip, knee and
ankle joints. FNS is used to strengthen and condition the paretic
muscles and to re-train the coordination of movements. Her current
research program also includes funded studies investigating the
effectiveness of weight-supported treadmill training and FNS for
gait training following stroke.
For her new study, Daly said she hopes to enroll 66 participants
over a three-year period.
She collaborates with Robert L. Ruff, who is a co-principal investigator
in these studies. Ruff is vice chairman of the department of neurology
at the CWRU School of Medicine, chief of neurology service at
the VA Medical Center and director of the spinal cord injury/rehabilitation
care line. Daly also collaborates with Neville Hogan, an engineer
who is the director of the Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics
and Human Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Hogan designed the robot that Daly's study will use.
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