Spotlight
There's always something exciting going on at the Brooks Center. Here we provide you with a spotlight on an investigator, staff member or new trial.
Click on the link below, or scroll down, to view the article of your choice
- The LIFE Study: Now Enrolling
- Study Investigates the Validity of the STarT Back Screening Tool
- STRAP Study: Still Enrolling
- Five Patients Enrolled in D-Cycloserine Study
The LIFE Study: Now Enrolling
Brooks is now screening persons interested in participating in the LIFE Study. "LIFE" stands for Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders. The LIFE Study is a randomized clinical trial enrolling 1,600 older adults who are relatively inactive, or “sedentary,” and at risk of developing mobility disability. This study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, is the largest randomized controlled trial ever conducted to test different approaches to preventing mobility problems among older individuals.
The University of Florida is the leading Center for the study and one of eight institutions around the country at which participants are being enrolled. The Brooks Center in Jacksonville is partnering with the University of Florida site at Gainesville, FL to encourage participation of older adults from Jacksonville and surrounding areas in northeastern Florida.
The eight nationwide participating institutions in this study include:
University of Florida North Western University
Pennington Biomedical Center Stanford University
Tufts University University of Pittsburgh
Wake Forest University Yale University
Little is known about whether specific interventions can help prevent major mobility disability, that is, the inability to walk a quarter of a mile or about four blocks. For older adults, staving off disability could help t maintain physical independence and enhance the quality of their later years. The LIFE Study will provide definitive evidence regarding whether lifestyle modification interventions are effective and practical for preventing major mobility disability.
The LIFE Study will compare the long-term effectiveness and practicality of two interventions: a physical activity program and a successful aging health education program.
“We want to change how people live,” said principal investigator Marco Pahor, Director of UF’s Institute on Aging and Chair of the Department of Aging and Geriatric Research in the College of Medicine. “Maintaining independence is one of our public health and clinical priorities for older adults, and modifying lifestyle is an important approach to maintaining independence.”
Eligible participants are randomly assigned to take part in either a structured physical activity program that includes moderate-intensity physical activity such as walking and exercises to improve strength, balance and flexibility, or in a successful aging program that includes health education workshops and supervised stretching. Individuals will be followed for up to approximately four years. The overall trial will run for six years.
In addition to disability prevention, investigators of this study will examine whether physical activity and health education affect cognitive function, cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary events, serious fall injuries and disability in basics of life. They will also look at quality of life measures such as depression symptoms, sleep quality, stress and satisification with life, and assess the cost-effectiveness of these programs for older individuals.
The Brooks Center and the University of Florida are currently seeking older adults between the ages of 70 and 89 to take part in the LIFE Study.
To learn more about the LIFE Study, call 352-273-5919 or toll-free 866-386-7730 or visit our website at https://thelifestudy.org/public/index.cfm.
Study Invesitigates the Validity of the STarT Back Screening Tool
The Center for Back and Neck Health at Brooks been enrolling patients in a study since February 2010 funded by Brooks endowment, that is analyzing the validity of the STarT Back Screening Tool (SBT) in physical therapy outpatient settings. Over 20 patients have already been enrolled in this study and investigators hoping to recruit another 130 participants.
What is the STarT Back Screening Tool?
The SBT is a 9-item questionnaire intended for use in primary care settings with patients experiencing non-specific low back pain (Hill et al., 2008). The patient is allocated to either a low, medium, or high risk subgroup based on their response to statements related to their low back pain experience. One example from the SBT is:
#2. My back pain has spread down by leg (s) at some time in the last 2 weeks.
Agree [or] Disagree
The SBT consists of multiple physical and psychosocial factors which have recently been proposed for identifying patients with non-specific low back pain that are at risk for developing chronic pain. The SBT has been developed and intended for use in primary care settings; however has potential for use in outpatient physical therapy settings.
What are the purposes of the study?
The specific aim of this study is to determine if the SBT subgrouping scheme discriminates baseline: pain Intensity (NPRS), physical Impairment (PIS) and disability (OSW, RMDQ). Another aim of the study is to determine if the SBT predicts 4 week and 6 month: pain intensity, physical impairment and/or disability. Finally, this study is attempting to determine how the SBT compares to other commonly used questionnaires to assess for psychosocial risk factors.
Who is involved in the study?
Dr. Steven George, PT, PhD, University of Florida will be the primary investigator for this study. His team will include: Jason Beneciuk, PT (Co-PI) (University of Florida, Rehabilitation Science doctoral student & Brooks Residency and Fellowship program faculty member), Michael Robinson, PhD (Co-Investigator), Anne Nisenzon, MS (Co-Investigator), Ryan Reed, Brooks PT (Site Coordinator), Mike Hagist, PT and Charles Gay (Research Program Assistant).
On May 5th, Brooks Research Seminar series featured Dr. George and Jason Beneciuk with a presentation titled Low-Back Pain: The Role of Psychological Factors in Physical Therapy Settings, at Brooks Hospital.
To enroll in this study, patients must be:
1. 18 to 65 years of age
2. Able to read and speak English (because of the multiple questionnaires)
3. Have a low back pain related diagnosis.
For more information on this study, Contact Jason Beneciuk at (904) 303-2103 or beneciuk@phhp.ufl.edu or Dr. Steven George at (352) 273-6432 or szgeorge@phhp.ufl.edu.
BrooksHealthCare Plaza Continues to Enroll Patients for STRAP
The Brooks Endowment-funded study, “Mechanisms of Restoring Symmetric Gait Post-Stroke: Role of the Ankle Plantarflexors” or STRAP has enrolled six patients at Brooks’ HealthCare Plaza and the Brooks Center for Rehabilitation studies and is looking for more patients to participate.
This study called STRAP or (Strengthening Ankle Plantarflexors), is looking at the role of ankle plantarflexor strength on gait symmetry post-stroke. Recent research has implicated weak plantarflexor muscles in gait deficits following stroke is often the most problematic post-stroke, not the ankle dorsiflexor musculature as previously sited.
The study is currently recruiting ambulatory patients within 1 year of stroke onset who are receiving therapy services at the Health Care Plaza. The patients will be randomized to one of two different exercise groups and then receive 30 sessions of the intervention. Intervention sessions are coordinated so not to interfere with their regularly scheduled outpatient therapy at HCP and are free to all Brooks patients from the Health Care Plaza.
It takes a team effort to make this project successful. Special thanks to Christy Conroy (Physical Therapist and Neuro OP Supervisor), Tonia Doidge, PT, Erica Walling, PT, Jackie Causer (Clinical Research Coordinator), Flo Singletary (Brooks Research Manager) and Tangerica Peavy-Alexander (Research Assistant) for their continued efforts on this project. Dr. Dorian Rose is Principal Investigator on this project, working closely with Dr. Trevor Paris, Co-Investigator.
For more information on this study please contact: Tan Peavy-Alexander at (904) 345-8970 or tangerica.peavy-alexander@brookshealth.org
Five Patients Have Been Enrolled In New Study Involving D-Cycloserine
Research therapists Brooke Hoisington & Molly Dunn continue to successfully train participants in intensive task practice at the Brooks Center for Rehabilitation Studies (BCRS) for the study “Improving Stroke Rehabilitation: Spacing Effect an D-cycloserine”. This study began enrolling patients in December of 2009, and five participants post - stroke have completed the drug/placebo administration and intervention of constraint induced movement therapy at the BCRS. Two of the five have chosen to complete the study at the VA in
This study is looking at the efficacy of D-Cycloserine for enhancing for stroke rehabilitation. D-cyloserine (an antibiotic) may enhance the brain’s learning potential, thereby boosting benefits of CIMT. CIMT (Constraint Induced Movement Treatment) is an efficacious treatment for arm/hand impairment post stroke. This study is testing whether distributing 60 hours of CIMT practice is more efficacious than condensing the treatment (traditional method).
Brooke and Molly, the research physical therapists at Brooks, are currently training one individual randomized into the study for the condensed schedule (every day for 2 weeks for 6 hours a day) versus distributed (same number of hours , but spaced over MWF for 2 hours each day for 30 treatments). Both therapists and participants are enthusiastic and creative in their participation. The first two participants to complete the study have been evaluated for the follow up maintenance of gains. All evaluations i.e. baseline, post- intervention and follow-up are performed in the VA Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (BRRC) in
Dr. Stephen Nadeau, Chief of Neurology at the VA and on the University of Florida Faculty Department of Neurology heads up the study which will continue until twenty individuals have completed this study including the 3 month follow up data collection. This study may help answer a key rehabilitation question regarding the scheduling options of therapy and a potential drug to enhance neuroplasticity.