Mindy F. Levin
Professor
BSc (Phys Ther), MSc (Clincal Sciences) Université de Montréal; PhD (Physiology); post-doc (Neurophysiology) Université de Montréal
PHTH 550
PHTH 551
PHTH 560
PHTH 561
POTH 639
Research Interests:
Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of normal and disordered motor control, specifically for unilateral and bilateral upper limb movement; measurement of sensorimotor impairments and motor control deficits after neurological injury or disease; determining the effectiveness of new interventions of arm and hand sensorimotor recovery after neurological injury, including task-oriented therapy and interventions using technology such as non-invasive brain stimulation, virtual reality and robotic technology.
Fundamental studies:
Description of control mechanisms underlying coordinated and complex movement in the healthy and damaged central motor control system, including error correction mechanisms;
Modelling of disordered motor control at the impairment level including disorders of muscle tone (spasticity, rigidity);
Applied studies:
Development of instruments to measure disorders in tone (spasticity), movement and coordination in patients with neurological lesions/injuries;
Development of clinical diagnostic tests of sensorimotor impairments of the arm and hand;
Evaluation of the effectiveness of physiotherapeutic intervention to improve arm and hand sensorimotor function.
Prof. Levin trained as a physiotherapist at McGill University (B.Sc. 1976) and practiced for several years at the Rehabilitation Institute of Montreal where she specialized in neurological rehabilitation. She obtained an M.Sc. degree in Clinical Sciences from the University of Montreal in 1985 followed by a Ph.D. in Physiology from McGill University in 1990 under the directorship of Prof. Christina Hui-Chan. She completed an additional two years of post-doctoral training in neurophysiology at the University of Montreal under the co-directorship of Profs. Yves Lamarre and Anatol G. Feldman. From 1992 to 2004, Prof. Levin held positions as researcher and professor in the School of Physiotherapy at the University of Montreal. She taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate level mainly in the areas of electrotherapy and neurology.
Prof. Levin was Scientific Director of the Research Centre of the Rehabilitation Institute of Montreal from 1997 until November 2001. She was a Research Scholar of the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec from 1992 until 2004 and was Director of the Physical Therapy Program in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University from July 2004 to July 2008. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Arm Motor Recovery and Rehabilitation (2005-2019).
Prof. Levin is the current president of the International Society for Motor Control and holds executive positions on the International Society of Virtual Rehabilitation and the International Neurological Physical Therapy sub-group of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy. She is the Editor of the journal "Motor Control ''.
motor control, neuroplasticity, motor learning, stroke, cerebral palsy, kinematics, electromyography
Tomita* A, Mullick* AA and Levin MF. (2018). Reduced kinematic redundancy and motor equivalence during whole-body reaching in individuals with chronic stroke. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 32(2):175-86. doi:10.1177/1545968318760725.
Subramanian* S, Feldman AG and Levin MF. (2018). Spasticity may obscure motor learning ability after stroke. Journal of Neurophysiology. 119(1):5-20. doi:10.1152/jn.00362.2017.
Turpin* N, Feldman AG and Levin MF. (2017). Stretch-reflex threshold modulation during active elbow movements in post-stroke survivors with spasticity. Clinical Neurophysiology. 128(10):1891-97. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2017.07.411.
Demers* M and Levin MF. (2017). Do activity outcome measures commonly used in neurological practice assess upper limb movement quality? Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 31(7):623-37. doi:10.1177/1545968317714576.
Banina* MC, Mullick* AA, McFadyen BJ and Levin MF. (2017) Upper limb obstacle avoidance behaviour in individuals with chronic stroke. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 31(2):133-46. doi: 10.1177/1545968316662527.
Turpin* NA, Levin MF and Feldman AG. (2016). Implicit learning and generalization of stretch response modulation in humans. Journal of Neurophysiology.115:3186-94. doi:10.1152/jn.01143.2015
Feldman AG, Krasovsky* T, Banina* M, Lamontagne A, and Levin MF. (2011). Changes in the referent body location and configuration may underlie human gait, as confirmed by findings of multi-muscle activity minimizations and phase resetting. Experimental Brain Research. 210(1):91-115.
Krasovsky* T and Levin MF. (2010). Towards a better understanding of coordination in healthy and post-stroke gait. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 24(3):213-24.
Calota* A and Levin MF. (2009). Tonic stretch reflex threshold as a measure of spasticity: implications for clinical practice. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation. 16(3):177-88.
Levin MF, Kleim JA and Wolf SL. (2009). Point of View: Enhancing interdisciplinary perspectives: What do motor "recovery" and "compensation" mean in patients following stroke? Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 23(4):313-9.
Cirstea* MC, Ptito A and Levin MF. (2006). Feedback and cognition in arm motor skill re-acquisition after stroke. Stroke. 37:1237-42.
Michaelsen* SM, Dannenbaum R and Levin MF. (2006). Task-specific training with trunk restraint on arm recovery in stroke. Randomized control trial. Stroke. 37(1):186-92.
