School of Health Professions’ NeuroRecovery Research Lab celebrates open house

The School of Health Professions in June celebrated the opening of its NeuroRecovery Research Lab, which is dedicated to spinal cord injury rehabilitation research. 

The June 13 event highlighted the donor support that funded the acquisition of the lab’s centerpiece — the PowerStep, a computerized  body weight-supporting treadmill system that enables hands-on, activity-based therapy interventions. Data collected during therapy sessions on the system are shared with other researchers of the NeuroRecovery Network, an international group of rehabilitation centers that develop and provide therapies to improve functional recovery and health among people living with paralysis. 

The NeuroRecovery Research Lab is run by Selina Morgan, PT, DPT, NCS, assistant professor and assistant director of clinical education in the Department of Physical Therapy. Morgan is an affiliate member of the NeuroRecovery Network, and UT Health San Antonio is the only Texas affiliate of the NeuroRecovery Network, Morgan noted.

“When we take the data we can contribute to international research, and we can find the best methods,” Morgan explained to attendees of the open house.

Therapies on the PowerStep include step retraining, step adaptability, segmental trunk control drills, coordination activities and anticipatory balance activities. Patients receive a full ensemble of sensory facilitation, which enables motor recovery in an environment in which they feel safe. The treadmill’s harness removes patients’ fear of falling, enabling them to participate in interventions to regain motor control — all while their results are collected by researchers.

“They give you their best when they know they can’t fall,” Morgan explained during a short presentation describing what makes the PowerStep such an important tool in spinal cord rehabilitation therapy using principles of the NeuroRecovery Network approach.

“I think part of why we think patients with spinal cord injuries can’t walk is because they don’t always feel it,” Morgan said. “If someone tells you ‘You’re never going to walk again’ and ‘Here’s your wheelchair, and have a great life,’ you kind of think that because you don’t feel it.” 

But given the opportunity to try, the majority of patients have a chance of recovering some level of function, she explained. 

Guests at the open house included donors, patients, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, physicians and faculty, staff and leadership of the Department of Physical Therapy and School of Health Professions, including Dean David Shelledy, PhD, RRT, FASAHP, FAARC, who thanked the donors and Morgan for making the lab possible. 

“It’s a significant milestone for our institution in terms of research in neuro recovery, and none of this would have happened without your support and without Selina’s leadership,” he said. “I am very proud of the efforts Dr. Morgan has made in transforming this into a reality.”

In her remarks, Morgan thanked the donors whose support funded the purchase of the $180,000 PowerStep: Lead donors William “Mac” and Lynn Riddick, the Dana and Christopher Reeve Foundation, Helping Empower A Life: Spinal Cord Injuries (HEAL SCI), Now You See Me Foundation, Ruth and Dennis Juren, and Lindsay and Mike Helsel.

The NeuroRecovery Research Lab is housed in the School of Health Professions rehabilitation services clinical space at the Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center.