At the University of Southampton’s Faculty of Health Sciences we have a number of research groups whose ultimate aim is to create new therapies and technologies that will improve quality of life for healthcare service users right across the world.

Within our Rehabilitation and Health Technologies research group we have several research clusters, one of which is the neurorehabilitation research cluster. This neurorehabilitation research is led by Professor Ann Ashburn and Dr Sara Demain, with the work covering three separate areas: balance, falls and mobility; maximising rehabilitation engagement; and upper limb neurorehabilitation.

As you may be aware, upright posture is characteristic of human mobility and a fundamental part of everyday life. The control of posture and balance is a requirement for safe functional mobility, physical independence and everyday activities.

Our neurorehabilitation research aims to enable everyday activities amongst people with neurological conditions, in particular functional mobility, using a range of research approaches and health technologies appropriate for current and future practice.

The principal objective of our neurorehabilitation research is to enable safe functional mobility while minimising unwanted secondary effects such as falls and injuries and the negative impact of deteriorating motor control on the quality of life of people with neurological conditions such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease.

The control of movement, posture and balance are influenced both by age and neurological pathology. The multifaceted nature of neurological conditions with ageing means that our nurorehabilitation research has a strong collaborative profile.

Currently our neurorehabilitation research focuses on: assessments: the development of tests for balance control, measures of posture and fall events; movement science: exploring the mechanisms underpinning the control of movement and balance; and characterisation: characterising people with stroke and PD with poor balance control and at risk of falls. But it does not end there…

Our neurorehabilitation research also focuses on: prediction: predicting fall events and recovery and deterioration over time; and management: the development and evaluation of interventions for people with PD and stroke in the acute and chronic stages, focusing in particular on mobility and balance.

What is more, our neurorehabilitation research work benefits from a distinctly interdisciplinary approach that sees scientists from different disciplines drawn together to pool their experience and expertise in pursuit of ever more innovative clinical solutions.

For example, our interdisciplinary neurorehabilitation research collaborations include those with: clinicians; the Comprehensive Local Research Network (Stroke Research and DeNDRoN); national and international rehabilitationists; social scientists, engineers; basic scientists (inflammation); medical statisticians; health economists; research development units; clinical trials units; and user groups.

Right now our neurorehabilitation research approaches include: movement analysis laboratory-based studies of normal and abnormal function; proof of concept and feasibility studies of interventions and assessments for use in the home and clinical settings; observational and predictive studies in the hospital and community; randomised control trials in the hospital acute settings, and community; and Cochrane review.

If you would like to know more about neurorehabilitation research here at the University of Southampton, just visit or Rehabilitation and Health Technologies research group website.

If you would like to know more about neurorehabilitation research here at the University of Southampton, just visit or Rehabilitation and Health Technologies research group website.

If you would like to know more about neurorehabilitation research here at the University of Southampton, just visit or Rehabilitation and Health Technologies research group website. The address is http://www.southampton.ac.uk/rht

Author Bio: If you would like to know more about neurorehabilitation research here at the University of Southampton, just visit or Rehabilitation and Health Technologies research group website.

Category: Education
Keywords: neurorehabilitation research, research into neurorehabilitation, neurorehabilitation technology, neu