Prof. em. Dr. med. Volker Dietz, FRCP

 

Main Goals, Keywords

In paraplegic and tetraplegic patients, communication between the spinal cord and the brain is fully or partially interrupted. However, the section of spinal cord below the injury remains intact and fully functional. In healthy people, this section of the spinal cord makes a considerable contribution to controlling walking and standing, through reflexes and spinal locomotion generators. After a paralysing spinal cord injury, these functions get mixed up because there is no longer any impulse from the upper part of the spine. If the appropriate therapies are used, the spinal cord can learn how to perform its original functions correctly under these new conditions. This group therefore focuses on spinal motor functions and mechanisms for learning and adapting in the spinal cord.

Keywords: Neurology, Clinical neurophysiology, Movement disorders

Group Members

1 group leader, 1 PhD student

Previous and Current Research

• Locomotor capacity of spinal cord after SCI
• Human motor control
• Regeneration
• Movement disorders
• Neurophysiology of functional movements

Techniques and Equipment

EMG, Treadmill, Lokomat

Selected Publications

• Hubli M, Dietz V. The physiological basis of neurorehabilitation--locomotor training after spinal cord injury. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2013 Jan 21;10:5. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-10-5.
• Dietz V, Sinkjaer T. Spasticity. Handb Clin Neurol. 2012;109:197-211. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-52137-8.00012-7.
• Kloter E, Dietz V. Obstacle avoidance locomotor tasks: adaptation, memory and skill transfer. Eur J Neurosci. 2012 May;35(10):1613-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08066.x. Epub 2012 Apr 17.
  

Selected Lectures, Seminars or Colloquia

Neuronale Grundlagen der Bewegung ETH (block course)

Funding

SNF, EU

URL

http://www.balgrist.ch/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-29/31_read-30/