2019 Conference Highlights

Check out the schedule of NDNG meetings scheduled on-site at the ACRM 2019 Annual Conference and plan to attend. All non-member attendees will receive an introductory 6-month ACRM membership with registration and are welcome to attend. This is a great opportunity to introduce yourself to colleagues who share your interests and expertise, and learn how to get involved in the NDNG. See Meetings Schedule >>

Special Symposia >>

Personalized Connectome Profiling for Rehabilitation Patients with Neural Injury and Neurodegenerative Disorder >>

The rehabilitation of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and stroke poses substantial challenges due to these conditions’ heterogeneous patterns of neural degradation. This special symposium has the goal to customize therapies based on patient-specific disability profiles. Professionals can benefit from mapping neural/cognitive deficits onto individualized pattern of brain wiring disruptions. Recent progress on integrating structural and diffusion MRI with connectome mapping techniques affords us the unique opportunity to conceptualize neural disability as a dynamic process of brain connectivity alterations whose trajectory can be modified with rehabilitation with the to optimize recovery.

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Aging with and into Disability: State of the Science and Rehabilitation Implications >>

This special symposium aim to address the current evidence on individuals aging with disabilities and will discuss the knowledge and attitudes about ageing and healthy ageing in people with disabilities among people with ID themselves, their families and key workers, such as nurses, social workers, and physicians. Many professionals working with people with disabilities may not understand what is the same or different about ageing in people with disability and may therefore not know how to offer the necessary support. These issues are both widespread and international but there are also nation specific approaches from which all may learn.

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Are We Ready for Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor as a Clinical Outcome Biomarker? >>

The objective of this symposium is to critically discuss the evidence supporting BDNF biomarker as an important clinical outcome measure in neurodegenerative diseases as well as in health conditions related to cognitive and physical frailty status.

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Lecture Luncheon >>

Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Rehabilitation Networking Group Special Luncheon Symposium TICKETED EVENT >>

This Lecture Luncheon presents the cross-cutting research of Dr. Lisa Barnes, the Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine in the department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center, and a cognitive neuropsychologist in the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Dr. Barnes received her PhD from the University of Michigan and completed an NIMH postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the University of California, Davis, before joining the faculty at Rush Medical College in 1999. Her research focus is on racial disparities in chronic diseases of aging. She is the Principal Investigator of three community-based cohort studies of older African Americans, and the Director of the Rush Center of Excellence on Disparities in HIV and Aging. One of her cohort studies, the Minority Aging Research Study (MARS), is nationally recognized as a premier study of minority aging and has been continuously funded by the NIA since 2004. Dr. Barnes has published extensively on risk factors for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease in older African Americans with over 160 international publications.

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Instructional Courses >>

IC 14: Optimizing outcomes in neurorehabilitation: FES cycling and stepping across the lifespan >>

Presenters will discuss evidence supporting the use of functional electrical stimulation (FES) interventions to decrease impairment and improve function in adults and children with spinal cord injury (SCI) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Presenters will provide suggestions for successful translation of evidence-based principles into clinical practice for effective use of FES interventions for these populations. Case examples and hands-on lab session will introduce attendees to various FES devices and provide instruction on how to manage the parameters of the FES devices to elicit the greatest response and positive outcomes in people with MS and SCI.

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IC 29: How Alexander Technique Can Complement Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Interdisciplinary Care Practice >>

Alexander technique (AT) is an educational cognitive approach. Adapted Alexander-based programs show clients how to choose functional patterns that are thought to result in more efficient and optimal use of postural muscles in everyday activities, and how to transform stressful reactions into responses that increase positive rehabilitation outcomes and long-term recovery and prevention. This course identifies AT training as a tool to enhance patient ability to be more active partners in their own care and recovery; the role of the AT specialist in interdisciplinary care; and an overview of research on clinical impact of AT training. Course includes experiential learning.

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IC 17: Rehabilitation Approaches for People with Severe MS >>

People with severe MS have significant motor, sensory and/or cognitive impairments that limit their health and function, and thus their participation and quality of life. Although disease modifying therapies may prevent relapses and delay disease progression in people , many deficits remain that impair function and limit physical activity in people MS. This session will provide the rationale for including rehabilitation in a comprehensive management model for people with severe MS. Evidence will be presented related to various rehabilitation strategies, and case studies will be used to show the integration of this evidence into clinical practice.