Rehabilitation

For the past decade, since establishing the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative, we have been a nationally recognized leader in rehabilitation sciences.

We have grown our funding to more than $20 million and our funding sources, which include revered organizations like the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

Our ground-breaking rehabilitation research work is conducted in these centers and labs.

UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative

This is a research partnership with the Lakeshore Foundation that seeks to improve the quality of life of individuals with physical disabilities through comprehensive rehabilitation and sport science research. This research focuses on the development and evaluation of new programmatic, policy, and service efforts, the development and validation of new supportive technologies, and the identification and advancement of meaningful alternatives for people with a physical disability or chronic health condition.

Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (CEDHARS)

The mission of CEDHARS is to accelerate and implement scientific discoveries, technological advances, behavioral practices and social norms that will allow people with disabilities to live independently in their communities, manage their health better, and increase their overall quality of life.

Exercise Neuroscience Research Laboratory (ENRL)

The ENRL is dedicated to studying physical activity behavior, its measurement, its promotion and consequences in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The goal of our research is to generate knowledge to help stop and reverse MS-related consequences, thereby restoring function and quality of life.

Healthy Aging through LifesTyle in Multiple Sclerosis (HALT) MS Collaborative Research Center

The HALT MS Collaborative Research Center is funded by the National MS Society and is directed by Prof. Motl. This research center facilitates collaboration among a core of established MS and/or gerontology scientists on the UAB campus who have the expressed mission of stimulating interdisciplinary research on lifestyle and wellness for healthy aging in MS. The HALT MS Collaborative Research Center creates an exciting opportunity for transforming the lives of older adults with MS, and the focus on lifestyle represents a novel opportunity for transformative research on healthy aging in MS. Research will identify behaviors (e.g., physical activity, nutrition, and stress management) that explain rates of decline in functioning and quality of life among older adults with MS, as well as facilitate the design and delivery of targeted interventions for promotion of healthy aging in MS.

Locomotor Control and Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory

The research focus of this lab is directed towards the understanding of neuromusculoskeletal control during active movement in individuals post-stroke. Studies seek to understand the underlying control mechanisms of poor locomotor control and to develop quantitative evaluation and intervention tools for the amelioration of locomotor and balance deficits post-stroke.

National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD)

Founded in 1999, the NCHPAD seeks to help people with disability and other chronic health conditions achieve health benefits through increased participation in all types of physical and social activities, including fitness and aquatic activities, recreational and sports programs, adaptive equipment usage, and more.

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Exercise and Recreational Technologies and Exercise Physiology Benefiting People with Disabilities (RecTech)

Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), the primary mission of RecTech is to expand new knowledge and research on recreation technology for people with disabilities, and to disseminate technology development through education, training and collaboration with private sectors.

Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Exercise Neuroscience Research Laboratory

Locomotor Control and Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory

NCHPAD

RecTech