The Collaborative Relationship of OT/PT Research
The Division of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy at Cincinnati Children’s is one of the largest pediatric therapy programs in the country. Our large patient population directly informs our research—and the findings from our research are incorporated directly into our patient care.
Working in seven research labs, our team includes physical therapists, occupational therapists and a biomedical engineer.
Our Approach to Research
Although we research different areas within occupational and physical therapy—including neurodevelopmental occupational and physical therapy, orthopaedic and sports-related conditions, and motor impairments—we’re aligned on our goal to improve child health through rehabilitation science.
Our research focuses include:
- Constraint-induced movement therapy
- Early intervention for infants with cerebral palsy and/or cerebral visual impairment
- Episodes of care and supplemental interventions for infants with congenital muscular torticollis
- Evidence-based intensive physical therapy for children with neuromotor conditions
- Measures to assess temporal-spatial aspects of gait
- Musculoskeletal modeling
- Neuromuscular electrical stimulation
- Optimization of therapy dose
- Patient outcomes in pediatric upper extremity and hand therapy
- Physical literacy and physical activity
- Postoperative physical therapy following multi-level orthopaedic surgery
- Screening tools for the early detection of cerebral palsy and cerebral visual impairment
- Sports-related musculoskeletal injury
Internally, we partner on our research with divisions including orthopaedics, neurology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, sports medicine, rehabilitation medicine and bioinformatics.
Externally, we partner with academic centers, and national and international healthcare systems, including:
- Boston Children’s Hospital
- Cerebral Palsy Alliance in Sydney, Australia
- Children’s Hospital Colorado
- High Point University
- Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Nemours Children’s Hospital
- Harvard Medical School, Lab of Neuroimaging and Vision Science
- Pisa SMILE Lab in Italy
- Providence Alaska Children’s Hospital
- Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre in Australia
- Toronto Sick Kids
- The Ohio State University
- University of Pittsburgh
Our work is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), United Cerebral Palsy, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, the American Hand Therapy Foundation and the American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand.
Research Areas
Our staff includes PhD's prepared clinical scientists in the fields of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Biomedical Engineering, as well as several senior therapists actively pursuing doctoral degrees. Their research focuses on pediatric and adolescent patients in the areas of:
