Rehabilitation Affiliates

Dr. Lyle is an assistant professor in the Division of Physical Therapy in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. The overall goal of Dr. Lyle’s research is to enhance mobility and improve quality of life for patients with locomotor impairments across the lifespan and to identify modifiable factors that will enable effective strategies to prevent injury. Specifically his research focused on identification of the governing neural control principles that enable normal and underlie impaired task dependent lower limb control, with an emphasis on clarifying the functional role of proprioceptive feedback (i.e. muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs), directly aligns with SPARC.  Proprioceptive feedback is known to have a role in coordinating muscle activity throughout the limb, and this is achieved by muscles continuously “talking to each other” via proprioceptive networks. Dr. Lyle’s research aims to determine how and to what extent proprioceptive feedback is modulated to meet unique task demands, and the extent to which the adaptive capacity to modulate proprioceptive feedback is influenced by injuries, aging and rehabilitation strategies (e.g. motor practice, targeted neuromodulation). Ultimately, Dr. Lyle aims to translate research finding into clinical practice to improve the clinical management of locomotor deficits and impaired mobility in patients with neurological and musculoskeletal conditions and injury prevention strategies in athletes. Dr. Lyle adds expertise in biomechanics, neuroscience and muscle physiology, and 3D motion analysis, electromyography, muscle/nerve stimulation paradigms, and strength and functional assessments to the SPARC team.

Mr. Newsome graduated with a biology degree from Presbyterian College and a physical therapy degree from Georgia State University. He is board certified clinical specialist in Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy. He has his Manual Therapy Certification through the University of St. Augustine. He is credentialed by the Mckenzie Institute in mechanical diagnosis and treatment of the spine. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is trained in Functional Dry Needling and Instrumented Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization. He is a guest lecturer and instructor in continuing education courses on the shoulder, knee, hip and spine. He is a member of the Orthopedic and Sports sections of the American Physical Therapy Association, Mckenzie Institute and National Strength and Conditioning Association.  He has been working at Emory since 1991 and is the director for all the Emory Physical Therapy clinics. Mr. Newsome will support the SPARC research projects across the Metro Atlanta rehabilitation sites.

Mr. Biller graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy and completed his Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Arcadia University.  He is board certified in Orthopedic Physical Therapy, a FIFA Diplomat in Soccer Medicine and is credentialed by the Mckenzie Institute in mechanical diagnosis and treatment of the spine. Michael is a frequent lecturer and instructor in continuing education courses on topics related to sports medicine, injury prevention and soccer medicine.  He has been on staff at Emory since 1992 and manages the Dunwoody and Johns Creek locations. Mr. Biller has specific interests with sports injury rehabilitation following ACL injury and aims to collaborate within the RESTORE program at SPARC.