CAREER: Scientific Investigation of Motor Learning to Improve Gait Rehabilitation in Individuals with Neuromuscular Dysfunction

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。每年用于神经肌肉功能障碍患者的治疗和康复的社会成本超过4000亿美元。康复的主要目标是改善或恢复个人的步态，减少跌倒风险，增加活动能力，并回归独立。计算机建模的最新进展可以帮助为受伤的个人制定更好的个性化康复计划。本项目的研究活动将探讨促进神经肌肉损伤患者健康步态的策略。将开发新的工具、指标和算法，为长期康复护理提供指导。研究活动将被利用来吸引来自代表性不足的群体的学生，成为下一代具有社区意识的研究人员。从这个项目中获得的新知识将导致对神经肌肉控制和运动学习的更好理解，目标是提供针对患者的康复计划。该项目是一项运动学习的科学研究，将开创创新模式，为步态障碍患者开出最佳的患者特异性康复处方，同时增加代表性不足群体学生的STEM参与。在这里，新的分带步态方案被用来修改和影响健康步态动力学的采用。将构建一个以实验室为中心的模拟工具，该工具将结合患者生理学和步态指标、肌肉骨骼模拟和临床相关成本函数来模拟新步态模式的存储。然后使用数据挖掘技术筛选实验和模拟步态数据，生成临床工具来制定定制的步态康复方案。最后，将利用肌肉骨骼模拟和建模技术的实践方面来创建互动活动，以增加来自代表性不足群体的学生的STEM知识和对STEM职业的兴趣。总之，这些综合活动将产生关于如何评估、监测和影响运动学习的新见解，以推动改善和优化个人运动和健康的更大目标，同时也激励下一代STEM专业人士。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Societal costs attributed to the treatment and rehabilitation of individuals suffering from neuromuscular dysfunction exceeds over $400 billion annually. A major goal of rehabilitation is to improve or restore an individual’s gait, reduce fall risk, increase mobility, and return independence. Recent advancements in computer modeling can help to develop better personalized rehabilitation plans for injured individuals. The research activities in this project will explore strategies for promoting healthy gait in individuals with neuromuscular impairment. New tools, metrics, and algorithms will be developed to provide guidance for long-term rehabilitative care. Research activities will be leveraged to engage students from underrepresented groups to become the next generation of community-minded researchers. The new knowledge gained from this project will lead to a greater understanding of neuromuscular control and motor learning with the goal of delivering patient-specific rehabilitation programs.This project is a scientific investigation of motor learning that will pioneer innovative models to prescribe optimal patient-specific rehabilitation for people with gait disorders while increasing STEM engagement in students from underrepresented groups. Here, novel split-belt gait protocols are used to modify and influence the adoption of healthy gait dynamics. A laboratory-centered simulation tool will be constructed that will incorporate patient physiology and gait metrics, musculoskeletal simulations, and clinically related cost functions to model the storage of new gait patterns. Then data mining techniques will be employed to sift through experimental and simulated gait data to generate a clinical tool to prescribe customized gait rehabilitations. Finally, the hands-on aspects of the musculoskeletal simulations and modeling techniques will be exploited to create interactive activities to increase STEM knowledge and interest in STEM careers for students from underrepresented groups. Together, these integrated activities will yield new insight about how to assess, monitor, and influence motor learning to drive the larger goal of improving and optimizing individual movement and health while also inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.