Touching the Lives of the Disabled Through Wellness and Motor Behavior

Dr. Priest

Touching the lives of the disabled through wellness and motor behavior

By: Rachel Cinquepalmi

 

Q: Why did you choose to direct the Lab for Wellness and Motor Behavior?                                                         
A: Early in my career here, a young, recently paralyzed young man came in to register for his PE activity requirement.  Being unable to participate in most of our activities, I collaborated with an engineering friend from TAMU and arranged to try his “Psycle” experimentally.  As we learned together that the “passive” movement of his legs seemed beneficial, we continued our efforts and got remarkable results.  I chose to direct this laboratory effort because nothing else similar to this existed and it provided many apparent benefits. 

 Q: What is the purpose of the Psycle Lab and how does it impact the students in Tarleton's Kinesiology Program? 

A: This is a multipurpose lab that provides “hands-on” experience for Kinesiology majors who have the heart to help others.  Not only do the student trainers receive a unique education, but the clients are the beneficiaries of physiological, sociological, psychological, and interaction.  I think the lab serves as a model of “Adaptive Physical Training” that can be duplicated in many schools and communities.  One of the major research findings of the lab is the finding that paralyzed muscle fiber has a remarkably normal adaptation to stretching and shortening

 

Q: What are the academic requirements for a student interested in working in the lab? 
A: Laboratory workers must first of all have a desire to serve others.  It is helpful that many have a solid background of Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, and/or Physiotherapy and Electrocardiography, providing them with an intuitive understanding of the problems encountered by individuals who have musculoskeletal or neuromuscular difficulties.

 

Q: How often do the participants in the lab train? 
A: Most of the clients train just as everybody should, i.e. most, if not all days of the week.  The American College of Sports Medicine suggests that three days a week, 20 minutes at a target heart rate of 60-80% of age-adjusted maximum offers many health benefits.  Research has clearly demonstrated that if we encourage more physical activity than “normal,” the body adjusts to the challenge.  Often, this realization encourages clients to move more at home or in the care center, where improvement can continue.  One of the most destructive activities (for everybody) is sitting, to which the body also has an adaptive response.

 

Q: What kind of activities do the lab participants engage in? 
A: Over 135 individual clients have received this special training from the efforts of the laboratory.  Each semester, new student-trainers are identified to carry on the efforts to serve these individuals.  During these transition times, the clients often train the student-trainers, providing program continuity, while new and innovative training ideas are being developed.  The primary ingredient in the operation of the lab is perseverance and determination.  Some of the clients have progressed from one-pound dumbbell workouts to 25-pound repetitions; some stand for the first time since injury; some take first steps after injury.