On this episode of Appalachian Excellence: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, Karen Fletcher, Office of Research and Innovation, interviews Dr. Alan Needle, a professor in App State's Department of Public Health and Exercise Science and Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. Dr. Needle discusses his research that explores how brain stimulation techniques can be added into injury rehabilitation to improve patient function. Show Notes Connect with Dr. Alan Needle injurylab@appstate.edu Links injurylab.appstate.edu Transcript Fletcher: Welcome to Appalachian Excellence, a show where we feature Appalachian State University research, scholarship, and creative activity that creates solutions and inspires change. We're here to bring you stories of incredible work happening right here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I'm your host, Karen Fletcher, where my day job has me working in the Office of Research and Innovation here at App State, and I've got my producer, Dave Blanks in the studio with me. Blanks: Hello Karen. My day job has me in here, so here I am. Fletcher: And great to have you here. Thanks. Blanks: Yeah, I'm glad you're here. Fletcher: I'm excited to introduce our guest today, Dr. Alan Needle, the Appalachian State University 2024 Chancellor's Awardee for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity. He is a professor in the Department of Public Health and Exercise Science and the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. He's been at App State since 2013. Dr. Needle has a Bachelor's of Science in Athletic Training from Boston University, a Master's in Science in Exercise Science with a sports medicine concentration and a PhD in biomechanics and movement science, both from the University of Delaware, a certified and licensed athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, and a fellow of the National Athletic Trainers Association. Dr. Needle explores how joint injury, especially ankle sprains, affect the central nervous system and how that changes how we assess and treat these injuries. I've had numerous ankle sprains as I've gone through my running career, so I'm fascinated about so many parts of his work and so let's dive into meeting him. Hey Alan. Needle: Hey, thanks for having me. Fletcher: Yeah, it's great to have you here. I think anyone listening has probably had some kind of ankle sprain or joint injury, and so that's probably why they're tuning in, but how did you get interested in this research area? Needle: Funny thing, I mean, you'd say most people, and I mean that's technically right. I'm always fascinated there's 40% of people that have never sprained an ankle and I'm just like, "What are you guys doing that you've managed to never sprain your ankle?" So how I got into what I'm doing is, it's interesting, when I finished my undergraduate degree at BU, I wasn't really interested in research. To work as an athletic trainer, currently the entry level is a master's, but back then you could get your certification with a bachelor's degree and then you would typically get your master's while getting experiences in AT so you can get a competitive job. And I ended up getting connected University of Delaware great program. And I knew I had to do a master's thesis that was going to involve research. And so one of the professors there did some work with ankle sprains and I was like, well, that's kind of cool. Yeah, I've sprained my ankle a bunch, I'd like to know more about it. And then I kind of followed that and I ended up working with a different faculty who ended up being my advisor who was more about the neurological side of things. And so I kind of married these two separate faculties lines of research to look at these neural changes and ankle instability and ended up where I kind of am now. Fletcher: Wow. And so you brought some research to App State or you started a new program with our program here? I know that athletic training program was the first one in the University of North Carolina system to be approved and it's here at App State and you're heavily involved in that. Needle: So I was hired into the athletic training program as faculty in that program here at App State. So I was the first faculty hired in that program since the program got moved into the Beaver College of Health Sciences or what's now the Beaver College of Health Sciences. Back then it was originally fine and applied arts, it moved over. The college was created, and you can fact check me on this, around 2010 there became a bigger emphasis on research. I was one of the hires kind of tasked with yes, we're faculty in this program and we're also establishing a research line in this area. And over the years that department has evolved. I was hired into health leisure and exercise science, which then became health and exercise science, which AT then moved to rehabilitation science. And so my position got split because I also work pretty ...
