Director
Michelle Harris-Love PT, PhD
National Rehabilitation Hospital
Research Division / Neuroscience Research Center
102 Irving St NW
Washington DC 20010
ph: 202-877 1558
fax: 202-726-7521
email: michelle.l.harris-love@medstar.net

Assistant Professor
Georgetown University
Rehabilitation Medicine and Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience

Research summary
We are primarily interested in the rehabilitation and recovery of visually-guided reaching movements after stroke, with the ultimate goal of developing more effective rehabilitation techniques. Our studies target interventions which may be of particular benefit for individuals with relatively severe arm paresis. Current projects are focused on the cortical effects of rehabilitation approaches, such as reaching practice with constraint of the trunk, bilateral reaching practice and robotic interventions, as well as the development of auxiliary approaches to further enhance the efficacy of these interventions.

The continuing development of non-invasive brain imaging and stimulation techniques has opened up the possibility of addressing key mechanistic questions related to neuro-rehabilitation. We use these techniques to localize, quantify, and modulate brain activity in association with the performance of upper extremity motor tasks. One such technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), is used to non-invasively and painlessly stimulate the motor cortex and other cortical areas. Responses to stimulation are collected using surface electromyography (EMG) or by measuring any induced alteration in performance of the motor task. Such techniques allow us to probe, for example, cortical responses to different types of motor practice or the role of a particular cortical area in the planning and execution of a motor task.