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PHYSICAL DISABILITIES BRANCH The Physical Disabilities Branch (PDB) was established in 2001 in part to accelerate the development of a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary, technology development and rehabilitation research network. To lend focus to the network, the branch adopted a central programmatic research theme that stresses the decompartmentalization of rehabilitation research efforts. To develop advanced technologies for basic, translational, and clinical rehabilitation research, scientists and engineers working within the Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering Section developed a movement analysis methodology structured on a generalized coordinate-based mechanical linkage model that can provide direct estimates of the influence of a given joint moment or muscle force on the movement of all joints and body segments as well as on overall task performance. In addition, PDB staff and affiliates, who previously demonstrated the feasibility of studying musculoskeletal kinematics with cine-Phase Contrast (PC) and fast-PC magnetic resonance imaging techniques, are working to define static and dynamic measures of patellar tracking abnormalities as a potential source of patellofemoral pain. The mission of the Human Movement Disorders Section is to understand human function and the influence of rehabilitation interventions in the context of activities of daily living in order to optimize function for people with physical disabilities across the lifespan. Recent accomplishments include a testing procedure to determine the mechanical properties of orthoses, the development of models to allow quantification of an orthotic's contribution to ambulation, and evaluation of the effect of an orthotic on lower extremity function during gait. Studies on the governing principles linking impairment to functional movement limitations in the elderly have demonstrated a hierarchy of compensatory movement strategies whereby maintaining standing ability is strongly influenced by the functional status of the subject and the difficulty of the movement task required. The Oral Motor Function Section strives to understand normative and adaptive oral motor functions. Researchers recently documented differences in the growth and maturation of the upper aerodigestive system between the normal and at-risk fetus; lingual perfusion and reperfusion patterns as a function of physiological task performance; swelling in the oral cavity after removal of the third molars, as determined by ultrasound imaging; progression of swallowing and oral motor function in nephropathic cystinosis; anatomic and behavioral components of the fetal upper aerodigestive system from 15 to 39 weeks gestation in normal and abnormal births; the use of MRI lingual volumetrics for tongue modeling; and temporal coordination and swallow-related response characteristics of the suprahyoid and infrahyoid musculature. They also conducted pilot studies to test the use of tagged and diffusion tensor MRI to study internal lingual mechanical function and muscle architecture. |