Sangeetha Madhavan and Tai Tri Nguyen demonstrate gait training, part of their study of improving rehab for people recovering from stroke. They will test whether brain stimulation combined with gait training can improve patients’ ability to walk after a stroke (Credit: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin/UIC Photo Services)

Non-invasive stimulation of motor centers in the brain may promote rehabilitation after stroke. Madhavan and her coworkers study how the brain changes in response to stroke, and how to tap into the brain’s potential to help in a functional recovery. Scientists approach rehabilitation in different ways, she said, but most commonly with a kind of bottom-up approach, by training muscles and re-teaching walking, and then hoping that the brain will relearn how to control those functions. (Credit: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin/UIC Photo Services)

Read: New Stroke Research Combines Brain Stimulation, Gait Training