When a professor needed achilles surgery that required no weight-bearing in his right leg during recovery, it provided the perfect opportunity to find out.

The comprehensive data set—still being collected—includes:

• Daily ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data on pain, affect, and other lifestyle factors;

• Accelerometry data

• ~ Daily low-density EEG (resting state, visual evoked potentials), collected at home

• Brain measures (2x/week)

  • Structural MRI (T1)

  • Functional MRI (15 minutes resting state, 10 minutes of movie)

  • Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (to look at GABA in motor cortex)

  • High-density EEG

  • fNIRS

• Brain measures (periodic)

  • PCASL

  • DTI

  • Iron

• Salivary cortisol (~3x/week)

• Blood (2x/week)

• DXA (periodic)

• VO2max (periodic)

• Physiology and reflex (periodic)

Schedule

Dr. Peelle’s surgery was September 25, 2025. MRI, EMA, and HD-EEG data collection began August 25, 2025, although some minor alterations to protocols occurred over the first 1-2 weeks.

Research team

The principal investigators are all faculty at the Northeastern Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health and include:

• Josh Curtiss

• Laurel Gabard-Durnam

• Tim Morris

• Stephanie Noble

• Jonathan Peelle

• Lauren Raine

• Brie Reid

• Dave Sherman