Rehabilitation interventions including resistance training, functional and task-specific therapy, and gait or locomotor training have been shown to be successful in improving motor function in individuals with neurologic disease or injury. Recent investigations conducted in our laboratory indicate that intense resistance training coupled with task-specific functional training lead to significant gains in functional motor recovery. Similarly, gait rehabilitation involving intense treadmill training and/or task-specific locomotor training has been shown to be effective in improving locomotor ability. However, the underlying neural adaptations associated with these therapeutic approaches are not well understood. Our primary goal is to understand the motor control underpinnings of neurologic rehabilitation in order to apply this knowledge to future generations of therapeutic interventions.

We will determine if aerobic exercise (AEx) and/or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are effective in treating symptoms of depression following stroke. This project is based on the idea that depression negatively affects the brain so that it doesn't change in the same way following treatment, the result being less effective recovery. We believe that effective treatment for depression will help improve how the brain in people with depression responds to other types of treatment. That is, effectively treating depression will enable individuals to better recover other forms of function following their stroke.

The study will examine the effects of a 10-week resistance training program, with or without creatine monohydrate supplementation, on changes in body composition, physical function, cancer-related fatigue, quality of life, and symptom burden in head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. All participants will undergo screening that includes completion of questionnaires, exercise testing and physical function assessments before and after the treatment period as well as at a 10-week follow up evaluation. We hypothesize that group that completes resistance training with creatine monohydrate supplementation will achieve greater improvements in body composition, physical function, cancer-related fatigue, quality of life, and symptom burden when compared to the group that completes resistance training alone.