Brain Injury Research

Children's Specialized Hospital
Brain Injury Center of Excellence

The Research Center’s studies in brain injury cover a range of topics from the use of robotic technology in mobility rehabilitation to interventions in cognitive functions such as memory, learning and emotional processing.

Our Current Studies

REST Protocol Case Study - The Restful Recovery Education Sensory Stimulation & Therapeutic Interventions (R.E.S.T.) Protocol is a treatment approach designed to both meet the therapeutic needs of children diagnosed with acquired brain injury who are functioning at RLAS levels I-III and also to meet the psychosocial and educational needs of their families.

Projects

• The Examination of Emotional Processing in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury or Autism
• Modification and Pilot Testing of the mSMT for Improving Learning and Memory in School-Aged Children with TBI
• Gait Retraining using Visual Biofeedback of Knee Movement in Pediatrics with Cerebral Palsy
• Biofeedback gait retraining for stiff knee gait correction: multi-joint adaptation in children with cerebral palsy
• Use of low cost orthotic device to improve upper extremity function in children with cerebral palsy
• The Application and Modification of an Emotional Processing Intervention in Pediatric TBI
• Development and Assessment of a Phase Specific Cycling Feedback Intervention System in Pediatric Cerebral Palsy

Publications

2022

• Lequerica AH, Shoval HA, Yalamanchi K,…Marchetta C, et al. Examining the use of a rest-activity ratio in a pediatric rehabilitation setting. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2022;103(9):1766-1770.
• Reyes FI, Shoval HA, Tenaglia A, Kim H. Ultrasound-Guided OnabotulinumtoxinA Injections to Treat Oromandibular Dystonia in Cerebral Palsy. Toxins. 2022; 14(3):158.

2021

• Karunakaran KK, Gute S, Ames GR, Chervin K, Dandola CM, Nolan KJ. Effect of robotic exoskeleton gait training during acute stroke on functional ambulation. NeuroRehabilitation. 2021;48(4):493-503. doi: 10.3233/NRE-210010. PMID: 33814476; PMCID: PMC8293657.
• Liu X, Oliveira N, Ehrenberg N, et al. Feasibility of a real-time pattern-based kinematic feedback system for gait retraining in pediatric cerebral palsy. Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering. January 2021. doi:10.1177/20556683211014125
• Casseus M, Cheng J. Children with Cerebral Palsy and Unmet Need for Care Coordination. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2021 May 12. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000950. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33990510

2020

• Pilkar R, Karunakaran KK, Veerubhotla A, Ehrenberg N, Ibironke O, Nolan KJ. Evaluating Sensory Acuity as a Marker of Balance Dysfunction After a Traumatic Brain Injury: A Psychophysical Approach. Front Neurosci. 2020 Aug 11;14:836. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00836. PMID: 32848585; PMCID: PMC7431558
• Anthony C. Juliano , Anthony H. Lequerica , Cherylynn Marino , Claire Marchetta & John DeLuca (2020): 'Inpatient length of stay moderates the relationship between payer source and functional outcomes in pediatric brain injury', Brain Injury, DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2020.1802666
• Kiran K. Karunakaran, Naphtaly Ehrenberg, JenFu Cheng, Katherine Bentley, Karen J. Nolan, 'Kinetic Gait Changes after Robotic Exoskeleton Training in Adolescents and Young Adults with Acquired Brain Injury', Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, vol. 2020, Article ID 8845772, 10 pages, 2020.

2019

• Genova HM, Haight A, Natsheh JY, DeLuca J and Lengenfelder J (2019) The Relationship Between Social Communication and Social Functioning in Pediatric TBI: A Pilot Study. Front. Neurol. 10:850. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00850

2018

• Marino, C., et al. (2018). The Effect of Admission Functional Independence on Early Recovery in Pediatric Traumatic and Nontraumatic Brain Injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.
• Nolan K.J., et al. (2018). Robotic Exoskeleton Gait Training for Inpatient Rehabilitation in a Young Adult with Traumatic Brain Injury. 2018 40th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Honolulu, HI, 2018.

For a full list of publications, please click here.

Distinguished Lecture Series

• Dr. Angela Lumba-Brown: “Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Among Children: From Evidence-Based Guidelines to Emerging Research.” Held July 22, 2021.

Children's Specialized Hospital's Brain Injury Program

The Brain Injury program at Children’s Specialized Hospital provides a broad range of medical care and rehabilitation therapy for patients who have acquired a brain injury through physical trauma or a medical condition that affects brain function. Learn more.