Page 49 - WesternU View Summer 2019

This article uses data collected from one part of their Thomas Vu, DO, Jonathan Labovitz, DPM, FACFAS, and
larger research project – administering an eye movement Mathew Wedel, PhD, was published July 23, 2019 in the
test developed by the Northeastern State University Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery.
College of Optometry (NSUCO) that WesternU College of
“Students and faculty from podiatric and osteopathic
Optometry students learn in their second year. The patient
medicine collaborated interprofessionally on this research,
follows targets with their eyes and the optometrist
which is contributing new knowledge to the medical
evaluates whether their eye movements are within a
community,” said WesternU College of Podiatric
normal range.
Medicine Associate Dean Jonathan Labovitz, DPM,
“We looked at typically developing (TD) children FACFAS, CHCQM, one of the paper’s co-authors. “We
compared to children with sensory processing disorder are proud of the initiative and skill shown by our students
(SPD) to look at if eye movements are different,” Walker in the anatomy lab and we hope they carry this sense of
said. “Children with sensory processing disorders had discovery and teamwork forward as they complete their
more difficulty with the test and scored lower on the test.” residencies and begin their careers.”

The TD group scores from this study validate the NSUCO Read the full story: https://news.westernu.edu/interprofessional-westernu-
team-publishes-previously-unseen-discovery-of-obturator-nerve/
test norms established in 1992.
Optometrists should evaluate whether their young
patients’ eye movements are below the norm, Walker said.

“Most optometrists probably don’t ask sensory-based
questions other than those that are vision related,” she
said. “I think more importantly for the general
optometrist is if they see these eye movements that are
really out of the norm for that child’s age group then they
should ask the parents about sensory issues to find out if
this kind of testing and vision therapy is needed.”
Read the full story: https://news.westernu.edu/interprofessional-
westernu-team-researches-impact-of-sensory-processing-disorder-on-visi
on-gait-and-balance/

Interprofessional WesternU team
publishes previously unseen

discovery of obturator nerve

A routine assignment in Western University of Health
Sciences’ anatomy lab has resulted in a discovery
previously unseen in medical literature, with the findings
published today in a prestigious journal.
Interprofessional WesternU team publishes previously unseen
Two separate teams of WesternU students discovered discovery of obturator nerve
cases where the cutaneous branch of the obturator nerve
(CBO), which usually remains in the thigh, ran into the
foot. A few previous reports in the literature describe
CBOs passing the knee to innervate portions of the calf,
but none show CBOs extending to the ankle and foot.

“Cutaneous Branch of the Obturator Nerve Extending to
the Medial Ankle and Foot: A Report of Two Cadaveric
Cases,” by Brittany Staples, DPM, Edward Ennedy, DO,
Tae Kim DO, Steven Nguyen, DO, Andrew Shore, DO,

WESTERNU VIEW Summer/Fall 2019 | 47