Mobile technology is poised to revolutionize rehabilitation research, but the infrastructure and training to support researchers in designing effective studies, collecting and analyzing data, and translating findings to improve care has not kept pace with the mobile technology industry. 

The Restore Center’s mission is to launch a world-wide collaboration involving hundreds of researcher teams to collect, share, and analyze real-world data on rehabilitation outcomes for those with movement impairments.

To achieve its mission, the Restore Center has created a team with expertise from bioengineering, statistics, computer science, mobile health, and clinical rehabilitation. We will grow this interdisciplinary community by establishing vital research infrastructure and training that enables rehabilitation scientists to use mobile sensors to monitor a diverse set of real-world outcomes. 

Together with this community, we will achieve the potential of mobile technology to monitor movement and factors that may affect movement in the real-world, as well as improve care for individuals with impaired movement. Our work will impact a broad range of conditions including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, osteoarthritis, frailty, cerebral palsy, and low back pain.

The Restore Center is based out of Stanford University and is one of six centers that form the Medical Rehabilitation Research Resource Network, organized under the National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Related Efforts

Mobilize Center: An NIH-funded Biomedical Technology Resource Center transforming the study of human movement through innovative biomechanical modeling and machine learning algorithms 

Stanford Catalyst Project for Motivating Mobility: An interdisciplinary project based at Stanford University to motivate mobility and health using smartphones and wearables with an evidence-based, interdisciplinary framework

Neuromuscular Biomechanics Research Lab (NMBL):  The research lab led by Mobilize Center PI Scott Delp. Based at Stanford University, the lab utilizes biomechanics, computer science, imaging, robotics, and neuroscience to analyze muscle function, study human movement, design medical technologies, and optimize human performance.