Biography
Dr. Christopher K. Thompson earned his DPT and PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During this time, Dr. Thompson examined mechanisms and functional implications of acute increases in maximal torque generation in individuals with chronic spinal cord injuries using biomechanical, electromyographic, pharmacological approaches at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Though a Craig H. Nelisen Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Thompson has investigated motor unit discharge patterns using the in vivo cat preparation at Northwestern University. This work focused on changes in spinal interneurons following acute chronic incomplete spinal cord injury. During the subsequent T32 fellowship, Dr. Thompson expanded his human work, quantifying motor unit discharge patterns in stroke survivors and individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Thompson has published multiple manuscripts, given numerous presentations at local, national, and international conferences, and received awards from the National Institutes of Health, American Physical Therapy Association, and American College of Sports Medicine. Dr. Thompson is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Temple University. His Spinal Neuromotor Laboratory is located within the Neuromotor Rehabilitation and Virtual Environments Laboratories and contains equipment necessary for contemporary motor unit and kinetic assessments of the human motor system. His laboratory strives to conduct highly collaborative research with the goal of developing life changing therapies for individuals with neurological injury through parallel animal and human investigations of the motor system.
Education
- PhD, Movement Science, University of Illinois at Chicago
- DPT, University of Illinois at Chicago
- BA, Psychology, Miami University
Google Scholar: Christopher Thompson Google Scholar Profile
Courses Taught
Number | Name | Level |
|---|---|---|
NMS 9621 | Neuromotor Science 1: Neural Factors | Graduate |
NMS 9622 | Neuromotor Science: Instrumentation | Graduate |
PHTH 8114 | Neuroscience | Graduate |
PHTH 8116 | Motor Control and Learning | Graduate |
PHTH 8150 | Elective - Special Topics: Research Lab Experience | Graduate |
PHTH 8150 | Elective - Special Topics: Research Lab Seminar | Graduate |
PHTH 8151 | Evidence Based Practice III | Graduate |
Selected Publications
Recent
Khurram, O., Negro, F., Heckman, C., & Thompson, C. (2021). Estimates of persistent inward currents in tibialis anterior motor units during standing ramped contraction tasks in humans. Journal of Neurophysiology, 126(1), 264-274. doi: 10.1152/jn.00144.2021.
Lulic-Kuryllo, T., Thompson, C., Jiang, N., Negro, F., & Dickerson, C. (2021). Neural control of the healthy pectoralis major from low-to-moderate isometric contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 126(1), 213-226. doi: 10.1152/jn.00046.2021.
McAuliffe, D., Kmiec, T., Taylor, C., & Thompson, C. (2020). Non-Linear Discharge of Human Motor Units during Linear Time-Varying Contractions across Motor Pools. 2020 IEEE Signal Processing in Medicine and Biology Symposium, SPMB 2020 - Proceedings. doi: 10.1109/SPMB50085.2020.9353641.
Afsharipour, B., Manzur, N., Duchcherer, J., Fenrich, K., Thompson, C., Negro, F., Quinlan, K., Bennett, D., & Gorassini, M. (2020). Estimation of self-sustained activity produced by persistent inward currents using firing rate profiles of multiple motor units in humans. Journal of Neurophysiology, 124(1), 63-85. doi: 10.1152/jn.00194.2020.
Wilson, J., Thompson, C., McPherson, L., Zadikoff, C., Heckman, C., & MacKinnon, C. (2020). Motor Unit Discharge Variability Is Increased in Mild-To-Moderate Parkinson's Disease. Frontiers in Neurology, 11. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00477.
Kim, E., Wilson, J., Thompson, C., & Heckman, C. (2020). Differences in estimated persistent inward currents between ankle flexors and extensors in humans. Journal of Neurophysiology, 124(2), 525-535. doi: 10.1152/JN.00746.2019.
Hassan, A., Kim, E., Khurram, O., Cummings, M., Thompson, C., McPherson, L.M., Heckman, C., Dewald, J., & Negro, F. (2019). Properties of Motor Units of Elbow and Ankle Muscles Decomposed Using High-Density Surface EMG. Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS, 3874-3878. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857475.
Thompson, C., Johnson, M., Negro, F., McPherson, L., Farina, D., & Heckman, C. (2019). Exogenous neuromodulation of spinal neurons induces beta-band coherence during self-sustained discharge of hind limb motor unit populations. Journal of Applied Physiology, 127(4), 1034-1041. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00110.2019.
Thompson, C., Negro, F., Johnson, M., Holmes, M., McPherson, L., Powers, R., Farina, D., & Heckman, C. (2018). Robust and accurate decoding of motoneuron behaviour and prediction of the resulting force output. Journal of Physiology, 596(14), 2643-2659. doi: 10.1113/JP276153.
McPherson, J., McPherson, L., Thompson, C., Ellis, M., Heckman, C., & Dewald, J. (2018). Altered neuromodulatory drive may contribute to exaggerated tonic vibration reflexes in chronic hemiparetic stroke. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00131.
Johnson, M., Thompson, C., Tysseling, V., Powers, R., & Heckman, C. (2017). The potential for understanding the synaptic organization of human motor commands via the firing patterns of motoneurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 118(1), 520-531. doi: 10.1152/jn.00018.2017.