Movement and Balance Disorders

The Movement and Balance group is concerned with various aspects of the sensory-motor mechanisms that allow humans to be able to keep their balance and move about. The group is multidisciplinary involving basic scientists as well as clinicians and therefore we are interested in both the basic physiological mechanisms as well as diagnostic and treatment issues of movement and balance. The inputs responsible for generating movement and the coordination of balance comes from various sources including the vestibular receptors in the inner ear, the visual system, joint and muscle receptors (proprioception). These various inputs interact with a number of central structures including the cerebral cortex the cerebellum and the basal ganglia to name just a few. Scientists in the department are interested in all these various peripheral and central aspects of movement and balance control, with emphasis on systems physiology rather than molecular aspects. The disorders of movement and balance currently investigated in the department are the CNS mechanisms involved in fatigue, disorders of balance such as dizziness and vertigo, specific treatment options for motor disorders such as tremor, Parkinson’s disease and dystonia, spinal cord injury, high order (adaptive) disorders of balance in patients with polyneuropathy, vestibular and cortical lesions