Associate Professor, Research Lab Coordinator
Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences Department
215-762-5136 P
215-762-3886 F
silfies@drexel.edu
Bellet Building, Rm. 925
Dr. Silfies received her BS in Physical Therapy from The University of Scranton in 1987; MS from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1994; and PhD from the MCP Hahnemann University in 2002. Dr. Silfies doctoral research focused on determining trunk muscle and motor control impairments in patients with recurrent and chronic low back pain. She also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in spine biomechanics and motor control at Yale University’s School of Medicine under the mentorship of Jacek Cholewicki, PhD.
Dr. Silfies teaches in the entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy, post-professional Doctor of Physical Therapy and PhD programs in Department of PT & Rehabilitation Sciences. She and her PhD students continue research related to trunk motor control impairments in patients with recurrent low back pain. The current research emphasis of her lab is to 1) identify stable and responsive measures of trunk motor control, 2) further characterize the alterations in neuromuscular control that underlie observed poor trunk control in individuals with recurrent mechanical LBP, and (3) determine if altered trunk neuromuscular control can be improved with therapeutic intervention.
View Biographical Sketch of Dr. Silfies (PDF)