Inclusive Physical Rehabilitation

Presentation of research activities

The research activity of the unit “Inclusive Physical Rehabilitation” focuses on the development and evaluation of diagnostic, prevention, and treatment strategies in physical rehabilitation. We particularly focus on neuromuscular abilities, functional deficits as well as social and environmental factors to develop solutions to promote and improve functional independence and quality of life for people with chronic metabolic diseases and, more generally, the elderly. We currently focus on two main projects:

The ARBORELE project:

This project proposes to compare the perception of the lower extremity between young and older adults and to characterize the relationships with walking. The perception of the dimension of body parts is considered essential to perform efficient and safe movements: for instance, we need to know the length of our arm to properly reach an object. A study by our group showed significantly higher distortions in the perception of the arm length in the older than in young participants. However, empirical studies specifically investigating age-related changes in the perception of lower extremity and their relationships with walking are missing. Thus, ARBORELE project will allow us to get better understanding of lower extremity perception can provide major applications in walking impairments and sport training.

The CollHome project:

This project explores collaborative practice in home care, the needs and expectations of the stakeholders involved, and identify their roles and their tasks. Secondly, it will investigate possible strategies to improve home care management and, more particularly, optimize collaborative practice in home. This is highly important as Switzerland’s older adult population has been growing constantly for several decades, as has the prevalence of people living with multiple chronic conditions and degenerative diseases. This demographic change leads to real challenges for the health care system and caregivers. One solution to help cope with this demographic transition and address patients’ long-term care needs requires a shift from hospitalized rehabilitation to home care. Given this there is a need to build on the emerging research conceptualizing homes as care environments.