LHSI Showcase Presentation

Project Summary

Hi! My name is Kate Wagner and I am an intern in Dr. Loghmani's Applied Regenerative Medicine Research lab. The goal of our research is to improve quantifiable soft tissue manipulation (QSTM) techniques in physical therapy and to create clear criteria to help train future physical therapists. This work will aid those with injuries or muscle strains that could benefit from soft tissue manipulation and will also help future PT students. Currently, we are analyzing stroke pattern graphs that depict the different forces applied to the patients when our devices are being used. Something cool that we have discovered from looking at these graphs is that the region of the body plays a big role in how the graphs depict the forces. We have also been looking at the way in which each clinician conducts the QSTM strokes, as small differences in things like handhold can cause big changes on the stroke pattern graphs. This could greatly impact how future physical therapists are trained in soft tissue manipulation.