Robert Motl: How does exercise affect Parkinson’s and MS

Can walking and strength training change health outcomes for people with neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease?

It's a question Robert Motl has been investigating for 23 years. His research focuses on exercise training programs that can improve the quality of life for people living with neurological diseases.

"We want to study how exercise can help people manage symptoms that are consequences of the disease, like fatigue and depression," said Motl, a professor of kinesiology and nutrition and rehabilitation sciences at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. Motl was named this year's Distinguished Researcher in Clinical Sciences.

"We also want to understand how exercise can restore physical and cognitive function, and how that translates into improved quality of life."

Motl and his team are exploring the benefits of a home-based exercise program. So far, they've demonstrated it can slow brain atrophy in people with MS. Exercise helps refine brain connections and supports the central nervous system, he said.

"We've been able to show that this home-based program can improve cognition as well as walking," said Motl, director of the integrative physiology lab and the exercise neuroscience research lab in the college. "We've been able to demonstrate that this program improves fatigue and depression, and we can improve both physical and mental health-related quality of life."

A professional cyclist in his 20s, Motl now spends his free time climbing mountains and doing yoga. While he never intended to build a career around exercise, he called his journey serendipitous.

"I had an idea, and it got funded. And once it was funded, I started taking a deep dive into exercise and neurological diseases and multiple sclerosis. There was just so much opportunity to do really novel, innovative and impactful research. And I was like a kid in a candy shop," Motl said about his early research. "We took this in so many different directions that I never imagined, but that were so beneficial for people with multiple sclerosis and other diseases."

Motl hopes to study the effect of the exercise program on other conditions like long COVID and chronic kidney disease, and on cancer prevention. He also plans to create an Exercise is Medicine center at UIC that would integrate research and clinical programs to deliver exercise as medicine.

"All of my colleagues in kinesiology and nutrition have been ultimately extremely supportive and encouraging, and wanting to engage in collaboration," he said, "and that's been the root base of all my success at UIC."