{"id":602168,"date":"2026-04-23T19:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602168\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:32:28","slug":"physical-therapy-professor-receives-1-7-million-nih-grant-to-study-exercise-capacity-in-stroke-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602168\/","title":{"rendered":"Physical therapy professor receives\u00a0$1.7 million\u00a0NIH\u00a0grant\u00a0to\u00a0study exercise capacity in stroke survivors\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Allison Hyngstrom<\/a>, chair and professor of physical therapy in Marquette University\u2019s College of Health Sciences, has been awarded an\u00a0R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study causes and solutions for decreased exercise capacity in stroke survivors.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0project will study the reduced activation of skeletal muscle in the weakened legs\u00a0of stroke survivors. Researchers hypothesize\u202fthat\u00a0this weakening stems\u202ffrom impairments in reflexive blood flow control during exercise, known as the\u202fmetaboreflex, which limits exercise capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hyngstrom\u202fis a multi-principal investigator on the project\u00a0titled \u201cTargeting the Muscle\u202fMetaboreflex\u202fto Optimize Exercise Capacity in Stroke Survivors\u201d along with Dr. Matthew Durand, associate professor of anesthesiology at\u00a0the\u00a0Medical College of Wisconsin. The award was issued by the\u202fEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with\u202fan expected\u202f$1.69 million earmarked for research at Marquette.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStroke survivors are unable to adequately increase and sustain cardiovascular drive during exercise, which limits their capacity to exercise at high intensity,\u201d\u202fHyngstrom\u202fsaid.\u202f\u201cThis is\u202fimportant\u202fbecause recent studies\u202findicate\u202fthat high intensity exercise training\u202fleads to\u202flarge gains\u202fin motor performance\u00a0post-stroke.\u202fHowever, a central challenge is getting stroke survivors to achieve and sustain sufficiently high heart rates to exercise at high intensity, and sessions can be limited to short bouts of exercise versus a continuous effort.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this award,\u202fHyngstrom\u202fand Durand will first\u202festablish\u202fthe relationship between\u202fmetaboreflex\u202factivation and exercise capacity. This will allow their research team to run a clinical trial designed to\u202fdetermine\u202fif ischemic conditioning can improve\u202fmetaboreflex\u202factivation in the impaired muscle and whether improvements result in better performance during a high intensity walking task.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDr.\u202fHyngstrom\u2019s\u202fstroke research continues to push the envelope as she reimagines how to treat stroke survivors with chronic mobility issues,\u201d said Dr. William E. Cullinan, dean of the College of Health Sciences. \u201cShe is a world-leader in stroke research who brings considerable expertise to campus every day, whether through her research program or in instructing our students how to be exceptional physical therapists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Brian Schmit<\/a>, professor and Hammes Family Chair\u202fin the Marquette and\u202fMCW\u202fJoint Department of Biomedical Engineering,\u202fserves as a co-investigator on the project, as does\u202fDr. Chris Sundberg,\u202fassistant professor of geriatrics and gerontology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the third active R01 for\u202fHyngstrom\u202fand Durand involving ischemic conditioning and improved motor function post\u202fstroke. Marquette\u2019s \u201cDiscover\u201d magazine\u202fchronicled their work<\/a>\u202fin September 2024.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The National Institutes of Health\u2019s Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by the NIH. The R01 provides support for health-related research and development based on the mission of the NIH. R01s can be investigator-initiated or can be\u202fsolicited.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development was founded in 1962 to investigate human development throughout the entire life process, with a focus on understanding disabilities and\u202fimportant events\u202fthat occur during pregnancy. Since then, research conducted and funded by NICHD has helped save lives, improve wellbeing, and reduce societal costs associated with illness and disability. NICHD\u2019s mission is to lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and\u202foptimize\u202fabilities for all.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, chair and professor of physical therapy in Marquette University\u2019s College of Health Sciences, has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97],"class_list":{"0":"post-602168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}