Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is the global leader in physical medicine and rehabilitation. In keeping with our founding mission of equality and access for all, we embrace diversity in all its forms and we champion ideas, inclusivity and action.

It's important to be confident about the quality of care you or a loved one will receive when entering a rehabilitation or treatment program. There are certain things to look for and questions to ask when narrowing down your list of options.

When Elizabeth Munsell was growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, she spent a lot of time at a nearby home where one of her friend’s siblings had cerebral palsy.

DeMarcus P. came to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab after his left foot was amputated following a work accident. Through intensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, he regained strength and learned to walk using a prosthetic leg. DeMarcus also discovered healing in our art therapy program — utilizing his creativity to process the frustration and emotional stress of his injury and recovery.

Our laboratory uses neural prosthetics to improve both our understanding of brain function as well as restoring movement and communication.

This lab offers this sophisticated gait assessment through the use of specialized cameras, computer technology captures and measures muscle activity.

We are working to understand the nature of the somatosensory and motor signals within the brain that control our movements.

We focus on executive function and social cognition, their representations in the brain, and ways to improve these functions in patients with brain damage.

Our research focuses on developing neural control systems for upper and lower prosthetics.

We study the strategies underlying the neural control of movement, examining how neural control interacts with the mechanical properties of the body.

We investigate muscle fiber and tendon properties in neurological impairments and sports-related injuries.