Movement disorders commonly occur following neurological damage. Dr. Bastian and her colleagues study the movements of adults and children who have damage or disease of the central nervous system.
Her group is interested in understanding the mechanisms of different types of movement disorders, as well as how and why different treatments improve movement. She is also actively studying how new movements are "learned" and what the course of movement recovery is following different types of brain damage.
The Center for Movement Studies employs several techniques to quantify movement including: 3-dimensional tracking and reconstruction of movement kinematics, recordings of muscle activity, force plate recordings, and calculation of joint forces and torques. These techniques allow for very precise measurements of many different types of movements including: walking, reaching, leg movements, hand movements and standing balance. The quantitative information gained from her studies make it possible to detect very small changes in movement performance over time or with treatment.