The purpose of this study is to evaluate how certain procedures work for individuals with chronic neck pain.

Individuals who are 18 years of age or older and have chronic neck pain will participate in this study. The study involves randomly assigning individuals into two treatment groups (i.e. manual therapy and resistance exercise). Both treatments are recommended treatments and are part of clinical practice guidelines and are well supported in the literature.

Participants will be asked to complete a 4-week training program which includes physical examination, education, treatment, and an exercise plan. Participants will also complete a brief set of questionnaires at their baseline visit, 4 weeks, and 6 months after their initial visit

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.

Adherence to home exercise is important to achieve upper limb recovery after stroke. However, adherence is typically low. Therefore, a new home exercise program with an Apple Watch and iPhone app was created to improve adherence to upper limb exercises for stroke survivors at home. Participants will come to our lab to experience the new home exercise program. Participants who opt for home use will bring the device home to try the new home exercise program at home. The purpose of this study is for researchers to examine usability and feasibility of participants using the new home exercise program.

VA Principal Investigators plan to gather information about veterans at the VAHCS who are interested in participating in rehabilitation research. Subject information collected will be housed in a centralized Rehabilitation Research Repository. VAHCS investigators may access this repository to quickly identify and recruit individuals who wish to be contacted for current and future VA IRB R&D approved rehabilitation research.

REHAB-HFpEF is a multicenter, randomized, attention-controlled, single-blind trial to examine the hypothesis that, a novel, tailored, progressive, multi-domain physical rehabilitation intervention administered to older patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) beginning early during hospitalization and continuing for 12 weeks in a structured outpatient setting, and continuing as a maintenance program will reduce the rate of combined all-cause rehospitalization and death at 6 months (the primary outcome), and reduce major mobility disability (MMD) prevalence at 6 months (the secondary outcome). This trial, REHAB-HFpEF, builds upon preliminary studies, including the phase 2 REHAB-HF trial, which suggests this intervention may yield significant benefits for this population which are largely older, frail, and with few evidence-based treatment options.

The study will recruit a total of 880 consenting patients >=60 years old hospitalized with ADHF with HFpEF. Following informed consent and baseline testing, the participants will be randomized in a 1:1 fashion to receive a novel, progressive, multi-domain rehabilitation and exercise training intervention or attention control. The intervention will include strength, balance, endurance, and mobility training and the specific training exercises will be tailored based on participant performance in each of these domains. The intervention will begin as soon as possible after randomization during the hospitalization and will continue 3 times per week in an outpatient setting for 12 weeks. Those randomized to the attention control will be contacted bi-weekly by study staff to maintain contact, collect information regarding health status, clinical events, and physical activity/exercise, and ensure retention; they do not receive any specific exercise recommendations. Both arms will receive all services ordered by their primary physician (usual care) and undergo measures of physical function, cognitive function, and quality of life (QOL).

This small stroke rehabilitation study will test the feasibility of a new method to personalize a home exercise program for arm/hand recovery. The research study will last ~8 weeks. Participants will be included if they are adults who have experienced a stroke that has caused one arm/hand to become weak, are able to come to the MUSC main campus 3 times for ~2hr arm movement evaluations, and are willing and able to engage in 60 minute telerehabilitation video visits with an occupational therapist 1-2 times per week for 6 weeks. We anticipate that the results of this study will enable occupational therapists and stroke survivors to, together, design home exercise programs that are meaningful, motivating and effective.

The purpose of this study is to develop and test if upper limb task practice and muscle activity training improve upper limb function in stroke survivors. Participants will be asked to come to the laboratory 3 times a week for 6 weeks to receive upper limb task practice and/or muscle activity training. Participants will also come to the laboratory for additional 3 visits for assessments of upper extremity function. The total duration of the study will be 2.5 months.

Research shows that exercising at home can improve arm and hand movement after a stroke. Unfortunately, it can be hard to exercise enough to make a difference in arm and hand movement after stroke. In this study, we will try to determine things that make it easy or hard for Veterans to exercise their arm and hand after a stroke. In this study, we will recruit Veteran stroke survivors who have difficulty using their arm and hand after a stroke. First, we will administer surveys and questionnaires to get Veteran stroke survivors' perspectives on their self-confidence, mood, sleep, and more. Then, we will ask them to track their home exercise using a wearable movement tracker (like a smart watch). Then, Veteran stroke survivors will meet with a researcher to talk about their experience doing home exercise and why they think it was easy or hard to do.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can be an effective therapy for stroke recovery patients. However, the extent to which patients show improvements with tDCS is highly variable. This variability may arise due to the differences of stroke location in the brain and because of differences in brain damage, all of which may differ between patients. If the relationship between these factors and tDCS efficacy were known, recovery from stroke using tDCS might become more predictable. Our overall objective is to understand potential measures of tDCS efficacy that may someday allow for optimization of clinical outcomes and patient care.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between reflexes in the leg and the presence of neuropathic pain. The researchers are recruiting 30 individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) total, 15 individuals with neuropathic pain due to SCI and 15 individuals without neuropathic pain. For this portion of the study, there are 2 visits. The first visit will examine cutaneous reflexes in the leg. During the second visit, the study team will assess sensation in the leg and administer questionnaires about pain, functioning, and quality of life.

The purpose of the second part of the study is to examine the effect of reflex training in the leg to decrease neuropathic pain. For this, the researchers are recruiting 15 individuals with neuropathic pain due to spinal cord injury to participate in the reflex training procedure. The study involves approximately 50 visits with a total study duration of about 6.5 months (3 months for baseline and training phases followed by 1 month and 3 month follow-up visits).