Jenny Lotter joined the Brenau Department of Physical Therapy faculty in the summer of 2024 as an assistant professor. She graduated from Des Moines University in 1996. Her initial career was in orthopedics, and after about ten years, Dr. Lotter transitioned to medical missions and became a full-time medical missionary living in Romania. After three years, she returned to the United States with a passion for the neurologic population and developed a desire for education, both here in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Lotter obtained her transitional DPT from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. After several years of inpatient rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, Dr. Lotter began working as a research physical therapist with the Locomotor Recovery Lab (LRL). She spent nearly eight years with the LRL and transitioned to full-time work in the research lab during her last year. The LRL focuses on interventions to improve walking ability in people with neurologic injury, especially regarding high-intensity gait training. They have published several of their findings in peer-reviewed journals and present them at national conferences. During this time, Dr. Lotter earned her board certification in neurologic physical therapy and her Doctorate in Health Science from the University of Indianapolis.
Published work
Hornby, T. G., Henderson, C. E., Plawecki, A., Lucas, E., Lotter, J., Holthus, M., Brazg, G., Fahey, M., Woodward, J., Ardestani, M., & Roth, E. J. (2019). Contributions of Stepping Intensity and Variability to Mobility in Individuals Poststroke. Stroke, 50(9), 2492–2499. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.026254
Lotter, J. K., Henderson, C. E., Plawecki, A., Holthus, M. E., Lucas, E. H., Ardestani, M. M., Schmit, B. D., & Hornby, T. G. (2020). Task-Specific Versus Impairment-Based Training on Locomotor Performance in Individuals With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Crossover Study. Neurorehabilitation and neural repair, 34(7), 627–639. https://doi.org/10.1177/1545968320927384
Hornby, T. G., Plawecki, A., Lotter, J. K., Scofield, M. E., Lucas, E., & Henderson, C. E. (2022). Gains in Daily Stepping Activity in People With Chronic Stroke After High-Intensity Gait Training in Variable Contexts. Physical therapy, 102(8), pzac073. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzac073
Henderson, C. E., Plawecki, A., Lucas, E., Lotter, J. K., Scofield, M., Carbone, A., Jang, J. H., & Hornby, T. G. (2022). Increasing the Amount and Intensity of Stepping Training During Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation Improves Locomotor and Non-Locomotor Outcomes. Neurorehabilitation and neural repair, 36(9), 621–632. https://doi.org/10.1177/15459683221119759
Plawecki A, Henderson CE, Lotter JK, et al. Comparative Efficacy of High-Intensity Training Versus Conventional Training in Individuals With Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Study. J Neurotrauma. Published online January 25, 2024. doi:10.1089/neu.2023.0494