Bald man with a beard smiling, wearing a white button-up shirt, against a plain background.

David A. Sherman

Assistant Professor, Physical Therapist
Northeastern University, Movement Neuroscience Laboratory

Selected & Upcoming Talks

Selected Publications

Knee joint pathology and efferent pathway dysfunction: Mapping muscle inhibition from motor cortex to muscle force. Sherman DA, Rush J, Glaviano NR, Norte GE. Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.msksp.2024.103204.

Interpersonal Coordination between Female Soccer Players: Leader-Follower Roles within a Collision-Avoidance Task. Fernandes CA, Norte GE, Schwab SM, Gokeler A, Murray A, Bazett-Jones DM, Sherman DA. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2024. doi: 10.26603/001c.116156.

Neural drive and motor unit characteristics after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: Implications for quadriceps weakness. Sherman DA, Rush JL, Stock M, Ingersoll CD, Norte GE.  PeerJ. 2023. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16261.

Weaker Quadriceps Corticomuscular Coherence in Individuals Following ACL Reconstruction during Force Tracing. Sherman DA, et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2023. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003080.

Arthrogenic Muscle Inhibition: Best Evidence, Mechanisms, and Theory for Treating the Unseen in Clinical Rehabilitation. Norte GE, Rush JR, Sherman DA. J Sport Rehabil. 2021. 10.1123/jsr.2021-0139.

View my entire Bibliography here.

Current Projects

  • Application of new muscle deformation sensors for the detection of clinical impairments

  • Development and validation of a portable, neurostimulation-integrated, force measurement platform

  • Sensory and corticospinal contributions to motor unit dysfunction in the quadriceps muscle

  • Mapping rate of torque development and force steadiness to neurophysiological impairments

  • Neural impairments associated with pain sensitization in knee osteoarthritis

Mentorship
& Outreach

3D motion capture simulation of a human skeleton walking, created using Visual3D v6 Professional software.
Side view of a digital skeleton model in motion analysis with arrows indicating forces and angles.
Man performing athletic movement analysis under observation in a lab setting.

I am currently the co-director of the Movement Neuroscience Laboratory at Northeastern University with appointments in both Physical Therapy and Electrical and Computer Engineering. I teach courses in Neuroscience, Physiology, and Motor Control. If you are interested in pursuing a PhD in my field, please reach out. I am always looking to connect with excellent candidates.

I am fortunate to have personally contributed to enhancing the success of students through teaching, service, and mentorship in clinical, classroom, and laboratory settings. My leadership and teaching philosophy focuses on leveraging an inclusive and open environment to foster intellectual curiosity, critical appraisal, and synthesis of complex and diverse knowledge. Further, I believe a classroom needs to be innovative, multi-faceted, inter-disciplinary, and collaborative.

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Mentors & Collaborators

I am truly fortunate to be supported by an incredible team of scientists, mentors, and friends. Their expertise and belief in me has made all the difference in my personal and professional success.

World map with grid lines, various university logos such as Boston University, University of Toledo, UConn, Texas Health Sports Medicine, Emory University, University of Virginia, University of Central Florida, and labels for Paderborn University, University of Groningen, Harvard, and UNESP.
Diversity - Image of Parrots of many colors

Tuhina Neogi

Postdoctoral Advisor
Boston University School of Medicine
Section on Rheumatology (T32)

Grant E. Norte

Doctoral Dissertation Advisor
University of Central Florida
Cognition | Neuroplasticity | Sarcopenia Lab

Joshua Stefanik

Postdoctoral Advisor
Northeastern University
Musculoskeletal Epidemiology & Biomechanics

Conor Walsh

Postdoctoral Advisor
Harvard University
Biodesign Lab

Lou Awad

Postdoctoral Advisor
Boston University
Neuromotor Recovery Lab

Diane Dalton

Postdoctoral Advisor
Boston University
Physical Therapy Center