UAB Insight Rehabilitation Volume 4 - Page 4

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VOL. 4 NO. 5

REHABILITATION INSIGHT

MD, director of UAB’s Voice and AeroDigestive Center.

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U ni v e r sit y

o f

A l a ba m a

at

Bi r m ingha m

Richardson identifies an area
of activity shown on fMRI in the
brain of a study participant (not
seen) who is viewing the 3D
virtual reality video. Figures A
and B show fMRI results from a
stimulation protocol mapping the
somatosensory cortex.

REHABILITATION
UAB’s Spain Rehab evaluates the
effects of virtual reality on pain.

Figure A

REHABILITATION INSIGHT

Figure B

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Spain Rehab Evaluating Virtual Reality
Effect on Neuropathic Pain and
Functional Brain Changes

i s s u e h i g h li g h t s
How Does Virtual Reality Affect
Neuropathic Pain, Functional Brain
Changes?
UAB PM&R Commits to Transverse
Myelitis Research, Treatment
Spinal Cord: DeVivo Paper ‘Most Cited’
Spina Bifida Transition Clinic Grows
Researcher Looks for Biopsychosocial
Factors in Neuropathic Pain

Researchers at UAB’s Spain Rehabilitation Center are

and confidence building, but this is the first single-blind,

exploring whether virtual reality (VR) might have a role not

controlled trial involving NP and functional brain changes.

only in helping alleviate neuropathic pain (NP) in spinal

Subjects undergo a baseline fMRI at UAB’s new

cord injury but also in reversing the maladaptive functional

Publications of Note
UAB Medicine News

Multidisciplinary Neuroimaging Resource Core for Clinical

2

reorganization of the brain that follows SCI.

Neuroscience and another following 2 weeks of viewing, for

3

Scott Richards, PhD, and Elizabeth Richardson, PhD,

Noteworthy Presentations

3

Noteworthy Event

4

A pilot project directed by medical psychologists

at least 20 minutes daily, a 3D video that gives them the visual
illusion that they are walking.

was promising enough for them to pursue the full 5-year

“In our pilot study, patients showed reduced levels

study, funded by the National Institute on Disability and

of neuropathic pain. Other studies using similar sensory

Rehabilitation Research. The rehabilitation field has evaluated

paradigms in persons with deafferentation phantom pain

VR for its potential for improving balance, motor function,

continued on page 2