Being physically autonomous seems very normal for all of us and you only realize the importance of being physically autonomous when you are confronted with the opposite, whether it applies to yourself or to someone in your environment. It applies to the stroke patient who lost his walking ability but also to your 80-year old father who has difficulties in climbing the stairs and which worries you on a daily basis, imagining him lying on the floor during the night, being home alone.
Within the Rehabilitation Research (RERE) group (https://rere.research.vub.be/) there are heterogeneous research lines, ranging from neurological to oncological rehabilitation and from pediatric to geriatric rehabilitation. Several RERE members still work as a clinician, which stimulates the transition of clinical questions into research questions and vice versa. Hence, we will strongly try to integrate innovative insights from transdisciplinary research.
The major research tracks related to Neurological Rehabilitation are the effectivity of research and treatment procedures of neurological physical therapy for people with central nervous system disorders, including virtual reality and robot-assisted training. Besides also research on the psychological aspects of neurological rehabilitation is done. The studies with children with Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Coordination Disorder are in close collaborations with the gait lab of the rehabilitation hospital Inkendael.
Examples of ongoing projects are: