National experts to train participants about Locomotor Training during three-day program

Philadelphia, Pa. – The Christopher Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network (NRN) will offer an educational program on Locomotor Training at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, 15th and Race Streets, and at Magee’s Riverfront Outpatient Center, 1500 S. Columbus Boulevard, from November 3-5. The intensive three-day program will provide participants with an integrated, didactic and hands-on approach to working with spinal cord injury patients through this innovative and evidence-based rehabilitation strategy.

In addition to Magee Rehab’s Locomotor Training team, the instructors include nationally respected experts in the field of Locomotor Training, including Susan Harkema, Ph.D., Director of the NRN, who also developed the Locomotor Training Program based on 13 years of research experience. Andrea Behrman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Florida, and Janell Jones, Staff Research Associate Supervisor at UCLA, have both been involved with Locomotor Training for 10 years and will also serve as instructors.

The Locomotor Training Program includes the use of the body weight supported treadmill training in which participants are placed in a parachute type harness attached to an overhead bar and positioned over a treadmill. Once the treadmill begins moving, therapists help individuals move their legs in a way that optimizes sensory inputs. This process helps individuals with certain types of neurologic dysfunction enhance their locomotor skills and, eventually, walking ability. In addition to the Body Weight Support Treadmill system with manual assistance, the Locomotor Training Program consists of overground walking training (facilitated walking on a regular surface), and community ambulation training using everyday functional skills (walking, transfers, selfcare activities, etc.).

Magee now offers the Locomotor Training Program at its main hospital and at its Riverfront Outpatient Center. Referrals are now being accepted for treatment with this program, aimed at working on ambulation retraining for those with neurological dysfunction who have partial movement.