RIC Patient Stories

Eric Edmundson

Eric Edumundson

Eric, a military veteran, received a complex combination of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and anoxic brain injury (ABI) due to a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq.

Read Eric's patient story

Michele Lee

Michele Lee

Michele Lee found a career and an aptitude for art through RIC's Second Look program.

Read Michele's patient story.

Eric Weil

Eric Weil

Eric, a pediatrician working in Chicago, participated in RIC's prime-of-life program to recover the abilities that drive his life.

Read Eric's story

Natalie Davis

Natalie Davis

Natalie Davis took part in rehabilitation including robot-assisted therapy to advance her ability.

Read Natalie's story.

Omar Al-Dhafiri

Omar and his father traveled from Kuwait to Chicago for Omar's care after he sustained a traumatic brain injury.

Read Omar's patient story

Photograph of W. Zev Rymer

W. Zev Rymer, MD, PhD

  • Vice President, Research
  • John G. Searle Chair in Rehabilitation Research
  • Director, Sensory Motor Performance Program
  • Professor, Physiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, NU
  • Professor, BME, McCormick School of Engineering, NU

Locations

Research Interests

W. Zev Rymer, MD, PhD is currently researching regulation of movement in normal and neurologically disordered human subjects; physiological effects of spinal cord injury; sources of altered motoneuronal and inter-neuronal responses in spinal segments below a partial or complete spinal cord transaction using electro-physiological; pharmacological and biomechanical techniques; rehabilitation robotics.

Awards & Recognition

Honors Graduate Medicine, 1962, University of Melbourne
Fogarty International Fellow NIH, 1971-1974, Laboratory of Neural Control, NINDS
Chairman, Engineering Foundation Conference "Biomechanics of Movement" Henniker, New Hampshire, June, 1979
Invited instructor, Cold Spring Harbour, June, 1980, 1981, 1982 Mammalian CNS course
Chairman, NIH Special Study Section (8 occasions)
Member, Musculoskeletal and Orthopedics Study Section, NIH, 1983-1987
Member, GRM Study Section: 1994-1998, Chair: 1999-2001
Member AIMBE, 2001
Honorary Life Member – American Physical Therapy Association

Research Studies

Education & Training

Education

Monash University, Australia
Ph.D.
University of Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia
M.D.

Recent Publications & Presentations

Seo NJ, Rymer WZ, Kamper DG. Altered digit force direction during pinch grip following stroke, Exp Brain Res. 2010 May;202(4):891-901.

Mottram CJ, Suresh NL, Heckman CJ, Gorassini MA, Rymer WZ. Origins of abnormal excitability in biceps brachii motoneurons of spastic-paretic stroke survivors. J Neurophysiol. 2009 Oct;102(4):2026-38.

Hoffmann G, Kamper DG, Kahn JH, Rymer WZ, Schmit BD. Modulation of stretch reflexes of the finger flexors by sensory feedback from the proximal upper limb poststroke. J Neurophysiol. 2009 Sep;102(3):1420-9.

Seo NJ, Rymer WZ, Kamper DG. Delays in grip initiation and termination in persons with stroke: effects of arm support and active muscle stretch exercise. J Neurophysiol. 2009 Jun;101(6):3108-15.

Zhou P, Suresh NL, Lowery MM, Rymer WZ. Nonlinear spatial filtering of multichannel surface electromyogram signals during low force contractions. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2009 Jul;56(7):1871-9.

Mirbagheri MM, Tsao CC, Rymer WZ. Natural history of neuromuscular properties after stroke: A longitudinal study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry.

Kutch JJ, Juo AD, Bloch AM, Rymer WZ. Endpoint force fluctuations reveal flexible rather than synergistic patterns of muscle cooperation. J Neurophysiol.100: 2455-2471, 2008.

Alibiglou L, Rymer WZ, Harvey RL, Mirbagheri MM. The relation between Ashworth scores and neuromechanical measurements of spasticity following stroke. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 5(1):18 .

Makhsous M, Venkatasubramanian G, Chawla A, Pathak Y, Priebe M, Rymer WZ, Lin F. Investigation of soft-tissue stiffness alteration in denervated human tissue using an ultrasound indentation system. J Spinal Cord Med.; 31(1):88-96; 2008.

Mirbagheri MM and Rymer WZ. Time-course of changes in arm impairment after stroke: variables predicting motor recovery over 12 months. Arch Phys Med Rehabil; 89(8):1507-13; 2008 Aug.

Chung SG, van Rey E, Bai Z, Rymer WZ, Roth EJ, Zhang LQ. Separate quantification of reflex and nonreflex components of spastic hypertonia in chronic hemiparesis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil; 89(4):700-10; 2008 April.

Mirbagheri MM, Tsao C, Rymer WZ. Changes of elbow kinematics and kinetics during one year after stroke. Muscle Nerve. 37(3):387-95, 2008 Mar.

Gerachshenko T, Rymer WZ, Stinear JW. Abnormal corticomotor excitability assessed in biceps brachii preceding pronator contraction post-stroke. Clin Neurophysiol; 119(3):683-92; 2008 Mar.

Mirbagheri MM, Alibiglou L, Thajchayapong M, Rymer WZ. Muscle and reflex changes with joint angle in hemiparetic stroke. J Neuroeng Rehabil, 5(1):6; 2008.

Makhsous M, Lim D, Hendrix R, Bankard J, Rymer WZ, Lin F. Finite element analysis for evaluation of pressure ulcer on the buttock: development and validation. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 15(4):517-25; 2007 Dec.

Zhou P, Suresh NL, Rymer WZ. Model Based Sensitivity Analysis of EMG-Force Relation with Respect to Motor Unit Properties: Applications to Muscle Paresis in Stroke. Ann Biomed Eng.; 35(9):1521-31; 2007 Sep.

Mirbagheri, MM, Settle K, Harvey R, Rymer WZ. Neuromuscular abnormalities associated with spasticity of upper extremity muscles in hemiparetic stroke. J Neurophysiol. 98(2):629-39; 2007 Aug.

Makhsous M, Rowles DM, Rymer WZ, Bankard J, Nam EK, chen D, Lin F. Periodically relieving ischial sitting load to decrease the risk of pressure ulcers. Arch Phys Med Rehabil.; 88(7):862-70; 2007 Jul.

Kutch JJ, Suresh NL, Bloch AM, Rymer WZ. Analysis of the effects of firing rate and synchronization on spike-triggered averaging of multidirectional motor unit torque. J Comput Neurosci.; 22(3):347-61; 2007 Jun.

Knikou M, Schmit BD, Chaudhuri D, Kay E, Rymer WZ. Soleus H-reflex excitability changes in response to sinusoidal hip stretches in the injured human spinal cord. Neurosci Lett.; 88(7):862-70; 2007 Aug.