Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science

Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory

Director

Laura Frey Law, PT, PhD

Research Interests

Musculoskeletal Pain and Fatigue

• Experimental pain models in humans to investigate individual differences
  • Sex-differences
  • Personality
  • Genetics
  • Using intramuscular infusions, cold pressor task or muscle fatigue
• Factors contributing to fatigue differences
  • Sex-differences
  • Between-joint differences
• Joint Strength and Fatigue
  • Modeling 3D strength surfaces
    • Males vs. Females
    • Strength percentiles
    • Major joints: knee, elbow, shoulder, wrist, trunk, hip, ankle
    • For digital human modeling application in collaboration with the Virtual Soldier Research Group and Center for Computer-aided Design
  • Muscle activation strategies
    • Muscle co-contraction during strength testing
  • Modeling Fatigue
    • Joint-level 3-compartment model
      • Joint-specific models
  

Funding Sources

• International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP, International Collaborative Research Grant)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH, K12, K01, NRSA for student)
• American Pain Society (APS, Future Leaders in Pain grant)
• Department of Defense (through Virtual Research Soldier, VSR, program)
• United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR, subcontract through VSR)
• Foundation for Physical Therapy (graduate student support in lab)
• Carver College of Medicine (Carver Medical Research Initiative Grant)