Professional Interest
My clinical interests include adult neuro-rehabilitation and geriatric fall prevention. Currently my research focus is the potentially impaired multi-sensory integration mechanisms in individuals with balance deficits. By multi-sensory integration, we mean: how the brain puts together & uses information from the visual, vestibular and somatosensory systems to perceive how our bodies are oriented in and moving through space. How do we know where we are and where we are going?
One such balance-deficient group is the fall-prone elderly. My research has involved three groups of subjects: healthy young adults, healthy older adults, and fall-prone older adults. We have explored age-related changes in multisensory integration, as well as differences between healthy and fall-prone older adults that may be associated with a history or high risk of falls. I am also interested in how sensory-challenge balance exercise intervention programs may contribute to improved balance and reduce the risk of falls in the elderly.
Education History
Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Therapy
University of Pennsylvania
Master of Science in Motor Control and Learning
Oregon State University
Ph.D in Movement Science
University of Maryland
Selected Publications
Allison, L.K., Jeka, J.J. & Kiemel, T. (In revision) Multisensory reweighting in the fall-prone elderly: Comparison to healthy young and older adults.
Allison, L.K., Jeka, J.J., Kiemel, T. & Kfoury-House L. M. (Submitted) Effects of a sensory-challenge balance exercise program on multisensory reweighting and clinical balance measures in the fall-prone elderly.
Jeka, J.J., Kiemel, T., Allison, L.K., Saffer, M. & Zhang Y.F. (In revision) Effects of visual motion on postural control in healthy and fall-prone older adults.
Allison, L.K., Kiemel, T. & Jeka, J.J. (In preparation) The dynamics of sensory re-weighting in healthy and fall-prone older adults.
Allison, L.K. (1997). The relationship between balance impairments and disabilities in the elderly. Master’s thesis, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.
Allison, L.K. and Jeka, J.J. (2004). Multisensory integration: Resolving ambiguities for human postural control. In Calvert, G., Spence, C., and Stein, B. (Eds.), Handbook of Multisensory Processes. MIT Press.
Allison, L.K. and Fuller, K. (2001). Balance disorders. In Umphred, D. (Ed.), Neurological Rehabilitation, Fourth Edition, p. 802-837. Mosby. St. Louis.
