Congratulations – Ally Clarke receives ASB Student Travel Award!

A young woman with blonde hair is wearing a green sweater and blue jeans while standing in front of a blossoming tree.

We’re excited to share that Ally Clarke has been selected to receive a Student Travel Award from the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) to attend the 2025 ASB Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. This award supports students who have authored abstracts accepted for presentation. Ally’s abstract Influence of Bodyweight Support on Motor Control in Children with Cerebral Palsy was selected for presentation at the meeting, and we’re proud to see her work recognized and supported by the biomechanics community.

Congratulations, Ally!

Neuromechanics & Mobility Lab presents at RehabWeek 2025

Members of the Neuromechanics and Mobility Lab has a busy week attending the 2025 Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) Conference, held as part of RehabWeek 2025 from May 12-16 in Chicago, IL.

RehabWeek is a premier, week-long event that brings together multiple conferences in the field of rehabilitation technology. It fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovation among researchers, clinicians, and industry professionals. Our lab was proud to be part of this vibrant community, with several members presenting their research and contributing to the ongoing dialogue on the future of rehabilitation science.

Two of our PhD students, Mia Hoffman and Madeleine McCreary, participated in the RESNA Student Scientific Paper Competition and presented their work during the Student Scientific Paper Platform session. Mia presented her research titled “Measuring Early Intervention Providers’ Use of a Novel Switch-Accessible Play Kit,” while Maddie shared findings from our lab’s Early Mobility & Play research in her talk, “Kicking it off: Do toddlers with disabilities activate leg muscles when driving with a joystick?”

Mia Hoffman also led a session on Play and Recreation in Assistive Technology titled “Switch It Up: From Adapted Toys to Therapeutic Gaming.”

Alexandra (Sasha) Portnova-Fahreeva presented a poster titled “Evaluating the Effects of Noninvasive Spinal Stimulation on Gait Parameters in Cerebral Palsy via Markerless Motion Capture” sharing findings from our lab’s Spinal Neuromodulation research. She also participated in the RESNA Student Design Challenge with her project, “H.A.T. – A Camera-Based Finger Range-of-Motion Hand Assessment Tool to Enhance Therapy Practices” where she and her team received honorable mention.

Katie Landwehr-Prakel presented a poster on “Cardiovascular Load of Using a Walker-Based Exoskeleton in Children with Cerebral Palsy,” and placed in the top 10 of the Fast Forward Poster Competition.

We are especially proud to share that Mia Hoffman was awarded 1st place and Madeleine McCreary received 2nd place in the Student Scientific Paper Competition. Congratulations to both for their outstanding work and well-deserved recognition.

We’re incredibly proud of our team’s contributions and accomplishments at RehabWeek 2025!

Neuromechanics & Mobility Lab Presents at NWBS 2025

Members of the Neuromechanics & Mobility Lab traveled to Vancouver, BC for the 2025 Northwest Biomechanics Symposium (NWBS) May 2-3 hosted by the University of British Columbia. The Northwest Biomechanics Symposium is a student-friendly conference and incorporates research labs from all of the Northwest, including Canada.

Ally Clarke and Madeleine McCreary gave podium presentations at the conference in Vancouver. Mia Hoffman, Alisha Bose, and Katie Landwehr-Prakel each gave a poster presentation.

A special congratulations to Ally Clarke and Madeleine McCreary for receiving the Honorable Mention Award and Best Podium Award, respectively, in the PhD category.

We are looking forward to NWBS 2026 in Bozeman, MT!

CR DeVol, SR Shrivastav, VM Landrum, KF Bjornson, D Roge, CT Moritz, KM Steele (2025) “Effects of spinal stimulation and short-burst treadmill training on gait biomechanics in children with cerebral palsy”

Journal article in Gait & Posture

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have an injury to the central nervous system around the time of birth that affects the development of the brain and spinal cord. This injury leads to changes in gait neuromechanics, including muscle activity and joint kinematics. Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) is a novel neuromodulation technique that may improve movement and coordination in children with CP when paired with targeted physical therapy.

Example kinematics and muscles activity at each assessment timepoint for P03’s more-affected side. A) Sagittal-plane hip, knee, and ankle kinematics over the gait cycle. Horizontal colored lines indicate where there were significant changes in kinematics over each phase of the study based on statistical parametric mapping (p Aim: How does the combination of tSCS and short-burst interval locomotor treadmill training (SBLTT) affect individual gait neuromechanics in children with CP?

Methods: Four children with CP (4–13 years old), received 24 sessions each of SBLTT only and SBLTT with tSCS (tSCS+SBLTT). Clinical assessments of spasticity and passive range of motion (PROM), as well as biomechanical assessments of joint kinematics, musculotendon lengths, and muscle activity were recorded during overground, barefoot walking. Assessments were taken before and after each intervention, and 8-weeks later.

Results: The combination of tSCS+SBLTT led to greater increases in hip and knee extension than SBLTT only for three participants. Three children also became more plantarflexed at the ankle during stance after tSCS+SBLTT compared to SBLTT only. While tSCS+SBLTT reduced spasticity, these changes were only weakly correlated with changes in musculotendon lengths during gait or PROM, with the largest correlation between change in gastrocnemius operating musculotendon length during fast walking and gastrocnemius spasticity (R2 = 0.26) and change in plantarflexor PROM and gastrocnemius spasticity (R2 = 0.23).

Interpretation: Children with CP used a more upright, less crouched posture during gait after tSCS+SBLTT. Large reductions in spasticity after tSCS+SBLTT were only weakly correlated with changes in kinematics and PROM. Understanding the mechanisms by which tSCS may affect gait for children with CP is critical to optimize and inform the use of tSCS for clinical care.

APTA CSM 2025 Conference Recap

Neuromechanics & Mobility Lab member, Mia Hoffman, attended the 50th Annual American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting (APTA CSM) in Houston, TX on Feb 13-15, where thousands of PTs, PTAs, and students came together to learn, connect, and celebrate 50 years of innovation in physical therapy.

Mia, alongside IMPACT Collaboratory members Heather A. Feldner, PT, MPT, PhD and Tiffany Li, SPT, presented a workshop on “Co-Designing a Switch Accessible Digital Play Environment for Children in Partnership with Clinicians and Families“.

Three women stand together at a conference center. The women in the center is holding a bag containing the "switch kit" supplies.