Jessica Rose
Academic Appointments
- Associate Professor - Med Center Line, Orthopaedic Surgery
- Member, Bio-X
- Member, Child Health Research Institute
Key Documents
Contact Information
- Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 497-8084
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
Dr. Rose's research focuses on the neuromuscular mechanisms underlying gait abnormalities in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and other pediatric orthopaedic conditions. As director of the Motion & Gait Analysis Lab at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, her research has focused on energy cost of walking, muscle pathology, motor control, postural balance and motor-unit firing characteristics in CP. Recent research investigates the relations between neonatal microstructural brain development on diffusion tensor MRI and later gait and motor deficits in very low birth weight preterm children.
This line of research began with investigations into the energetics of walking in CP, which prompted research on muscle pathophysiology in spastic CP (Rose et al, J Orthop Res, 1994). This histologic and morphometric biopsy study of spastic muscle in children with diplegia, found an abnormal predominance of type 1 fibers and fiber size variability. These structural abnormalities, similar to changes seen with experimental chronic low frequency stimulation suggest a reduction in motor-unit firing rates, presumably as a result of interrupted descending signals.
To further investigate these findings, neuromuscular activation and motor-unit firing characteristics were analyzed in gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles in spastic CP (Rose and McGill, Dev Med Child Neurol, 2005). Maximal voluntary neuromuscular activation, the ratio between maximal voluntary EMG amplitude and M-wave amplitude, was found to be substantially reduced in CP, while recruitment was normal at the lower levels of contraction tested. Extrapolated values at maximal neuromuscular activation suggest that maximal motor-unit firing rates are approximately 50% of control values.
Additional studies have developed EMG measures of selective motor control revealing the obligatory muscle co-activation that contributes to toe walking in CP (Rose et al, J Ped Orthop, 1999, Policy et al, J Ped Orthop, 2001) as well as force plate center-of=pressure measures of postural balance in CP (Wolff et al, J Orthop Res, 1998, Rose et al, Dev Med Child Neurol, 2002). Precise definitions of pediatric motor disability based on quantitative analysis is the focus of her participation in the Neurophysiology section of the NIH Taskforce on Childhood Motor Disorders.
Current research examines the relations between neonatal microstructural brain development on diffusion tensor MRI and gait deficits in very low birth weight preterm children (Rose et al. Ped Res, 2005, Rose et al. Dev Med Child Neurol 2007,2009). Related research investigates relations between cerebellar structure and postural balance in adults.
Dr. Rose serves on the Reserach Committee of the AACPDM and leads the NIH Research Network on Artificial Walking Technologies for FES-assisted Gait for Children with CP. She edits the book, Human Walking 3rd Edition, (Rose J and Gamble JG, Editors, Lippincott, WilIiams and Wilkins, 2006) which offers a multidisciplinary perspective on gait analysis and human walking. She is a course director of Anatomy of Moement (Ortho 222) a multidisciplinary course on musculoskeletal anatomy, clinical applications, as well as perspectives from bioengineering, anthropology, animation and art history.
Publications
- The pediatric upper limb motion index and a temporal-spatial logistic regression: quantitative analysis of upper limb movement disorders during the Reach & Grasp Cycle. J Biomech. 2012; (6): 945-51
- Rotational biomechanics of the elite golf swing: benchmarks for amateurs. J Appl Biomech. 2011; (3): 242-51
- Mechanisms of postural control in alcoholic men and women: biomechanical analysis of musculoskeletal coordination during quiet standing. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2010; (3): 528-37
- Physiological and focal cerebellar substrates of abnormal postural sway and tremor in alcoholic women. Biol Psychiatry. 2010; (1): 44-51
- Temporal-spatial parameters of the upper limb during a Reach & Grasp Cycle for children. Gait Posture. 2010; (3): 301-6
- Three-dimensional kinematics of the upper limb during a Reach and Grasp Cycle for children. Gait Posture. 2010; (1): 72-7
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