Dr. Pitsch has been practicing physical therapy for over twenty years, having earned her entry level master of physical therapy degree at the joint program at UCSF and San Francisco state. She earned her post professional doctorate at the University of Southern California. She has been working at UCSF since 1998 (with a hiatus for graduate school) and joined the faculty of the UCSF graduate program in physical therapy and rehabilitation science in 2011. She enjoys swimming, walking her dog, singing, and trying to keep her houseplants alive. She also dabbles in VR video games, sewing, and attempting to meditate.
COURSES
PT 213 Neurological Pathokinesiology III
PT 204 Motor Control Across the Lifespan: Motor Behavior
PT 209/910 Evidence-Based Practice
CLINICAL EXPERTISE
Dr. Pitsch specializes in working with people with neurologic disorders. Typical diagnoses include facial nerve injury/ Bell’s Palsy, stroke, balance / vestibular disorders, and neurodegenerative illnesses like Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and Huntington’s Disease. Regardless of the diagnosis, her approach with her is the same: give the patient and their caregivers the knowledge, skills, and optimal challenge so that they can be their own best therapist.
CLINICAL AND RESEARCH INTERESTS
Technology for rehabilitation
Motor Learning and Neuroplasticity
CURRENT RESEARCH
Using adaptive DBS for gait re-training in people with Parkinson’s Disease. PI: Doris Wang
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Byl NN, Pitsch EA, Abrams G. Functional Outcomes Can Vary by Dose: Learning Based Sensorimotor Training for Patients Stable Post Stroke. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 22(5): 494-504, 2008.
Tan C, Tretriluxana J, Pitsch E, Runnarong N, Winstein CJ. Anticipatory Planning of Functional Reach-to-Grasp: A Pilot Study. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair 2012 Oct;26(8):957-67
Fisher, Beth E;, Lee, Ya-Yun; Pitsch, Erica A.; Moore, Brian; Southam, Anna; Faw, Timothy; Powers, Christopher. Method for Assessing Brain Changes Associated with Gluteus Maximus Activation. Journal of Orthopedics and Sports Physical Therapy. April 2013,43(4) 214-221
Byl NN, Abrams GM, Pitsch E, Fedulow I, Kim H, Simkins M, Nagarajan S, Rosen J. Chronic stroke survivors achieve comparable outcomes following virtual task specific repetitive training guided by a wearable robotic orthosis (UL-EXO7) and actual task specific repetitive training guided by a physical therapist. J Hand Ther. 2013 Oct-Dec;26(4):343-52
Block VA, Pitsch E, Tahir P, Cree BA, Allen DD, Gelfand JM. Remote physical activity monitoring in neurological disease: a systematic review. PLoS One 2016 Apr 28; 11(4)
