Approximately 80% of stroke survivors have hand impairment. A majority do not fully recover their hand function despite completing standard rehabilitation. Limited hand function results in learned non-use not only of the hand but also of the whole arm. This limited upper limb movement results in decreased independence and poor quality of life. It is known that training for proper movement patterns is important especially early in rehabilitation. The purpose of this project is to determine if training using hand exoskeleton to improve finger movement is feasible in stroke patients. Stroke survivors will receive training with 4 different control strategies to improve finger joint coordination.

Children with injury to one side of the brain (stroke, cerebral palsy, or traumatic brain injury) often have difficulty with many life activities due to problems with their ability to pay attention and also problems with keeping their balance. This project will help explain how a child's problems with paying attention impacts their ability to keep themselves safe while standing and moving during childhood life activities. This study will have children participate in a several different assessments to evaluate how they are paying attention, how well they keep their balance, how well they are able to move and play, and will ask parents to complete a couple of surveys to provide information about what the children are like at home. This study will consist of one visit to MUSC campus that will take about 2 hours to complete the testing.

Underserved, racial and ethnic minority communities are experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 cases and associated mortality compared to whites due to long standing social and structural inequities that also drive disparities in chronic diseases such as stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Patients with underlying chronic diseases who are recovering from COVID-19 depend on the support of family and friends (informal caregivers/care partners) who are being exposed to the same pandemic and racial stressors, exposure that can affect the health and quality of life of both partners. The primary goal of this study is to test the efficacy of an adapted, telehealth-enhanced intervention that targets barriers impacting family illness management behaviors of Black/African American (AA) adult COVID-19 survivors and carepartner dyads for improved quality of life and COVID/chronic illness health related outcomes.

We propose to enroll 150 individuals with acute stroke admitted to MUSC over the next 12 months and randomize them into increased frequency and usual care PT treatment groups. This study will be designed as a randomized control trial. Patients who agree to participate, will be assigned (at random) to either a treatment group which will receive more frequent intensive therapy services or to the control group (treatment as usual) which will receive the standard amount of therapy services currently provided in the hospital setting (~3-5 times per week). By studying the balance, walking and success of patients in the treatment group compared with the standard of care group- we hope to better understand the effect of more frequent physical therapy services on a patient's independence post stroke.

Hand and arm disability after stroke has a profound, negative impact on functional ability and independence. Basic science research suggests that recovery requires high repetitions of task-specific practice. Enough practice cannot be completed during therapy sessions, requiring patients to perform additional task practices at home on their own. Adherence to these home task practices is often limited and is likely a factor reducing the effectiveness of rehabilitation post-stroke. This project will create a system to objectively track stroke survivors' hand and arm task practice at home. The quantity and quality feedback from the system is expected to optimize effective task practice at home by patients. The system is expected to also enable adherence- and progress-driven clinic visits to maximize efficiency of therapy service.

To assess comparable efficacy of aphasia therapy administered via telerehab (aphasia remote therapy; ART) to aphasia therapy administered in clinic (in-clinic therapy; I-CT).

This research is being done to help us understand whether and how the use of a drug, called escitalopram (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRI), may improve language therapy effectiveness, as measured when naming untrained pictures and describing pictures, in individuals with aphasia within three months after a stroke.

Another goal of part of this study is to investigate the particular concentration of certain molecules in the brain of people with following a stroke and how the SSRI might change this. This will allow us to better understand how brains change in people receiving language therapy.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability in the U.S. and many Veteran stroke survivors live with severe disability. Despite recent advances in rehabilitation treatments many stroke survivors have persistent physical and mental difficulties such as reduced arm and leg function, difficulty thinking, and depression.
Developing treatments that address these problems is necessary to improve long-term recovery for stroke survivors. Aerobic exercise (AEx) can improve physical and mental function, and reduce depression. Additionally, AEx may enhance physical rehabilitation by making the brain more receptive to, and consequently improving the response to a rehabilitation treatment. Therefore, combining AEx with physical rehabilitation has the potential to improve multiple parts of stroke recovery. This study will examine the effect of combining AEx with physical rehabilitation on physical and mental function in stroke survivors. By gaining a better understanding of the effects of this combined intervention we aim to advance the rehabilitative care of Veteran stroke survivors.

TESLA is a multicenter trial in which patients with moderate-large acute ischemic stroke infarcts will be assigned to either best medical management alone (including intravenous recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (IV rtPA)) or intra-arterial treatment (IAT) with mechanical thrombectomy added to best medical management.

Mechanical thrombectomy will be performed with FDA-approved thrombectomy devices in accordance with the instructions for use (IFU) and under FDA Investigational Device Exemption G190006. Patients will be enrolled at up to 35 U.S. centers and 5 European centers over an anticipated three-year period, with an additional year for trial closeout.

Following a stroke, many individuals have a high risk of falls, which can negatively influence quality of life. Unfortunately, current treatments have not effectively addressed this problem. This study investigates whether two methods of delivering mechanical perturbations during walking have the potential to improve post-stroke walking balance and reduce real-world fall incidence.