View clinical trials related to Spinal Cord Injuries.
Filter by:Many individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI) use a wheelchair as their primary mode of locomotion. The prolonged non-active sitting time associated to this mode of locomotion contributes to development or worsening of numerous adverse health effects affecting musculoskeletal, endocrino-metabolic and cardiorespiratory health. To counter this vicious circle, engaging in a walking program with a wearable robotic exoskeleton (WRE) is a promising physical activity intervention. This study aims to measure the effects of a WRE-assisted walking program on musculoskeletal, endocrino-metabolic and cardiorespiratory health.
This study will examine a form of non-invasive brain stimulation applied with intensive therapy of the arm and hand. The goal of the study is to determine if arm and hand function can be improved in people with incomplete cervical spinal cord injury (neck spinal cord injury, tetraplegia). Participants will be assigned to receive either active or inactive non-invasive brain stimulation.
This is a pilot study to collect data to support a VA grant submission to study fMRI and neurophysiological predictors of hand function and recovery during a robotic intervention in people with hand impairments due to stroke or spinal cord injury.
Most individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) have residual nerve circuits. The investigators aim to strengthen those circuits to improve motor recovery after injury. To do this, the investigators are attempting to pair electrical and magnetic stimulation with physical training targeted toward the connections between nerve circuits. Past studies by other groups have shown that synapse strength can be improved temporarily after a short period of paired stimulation between the brain (motor cortex) and the peripheral nerves serving target muscles - in other words, "Fire Together, Wire Together". The brain's intention to move a muscle can be read by recording surface electrical activity over target muscles (electromyography or EMG). In animal models of SCI, scientists have successfully used target muscle EMG to trigger spinal cord electrical stimulation pulses while the animals perform physical exercises. Using the body's own signals to trigger nerve stimulation is called "closed-loop stimulation". This might be an optimal method to coordinate brain and nerve activity, especially with the clinical advantage of being possible to combine with physical exercise training. However, whether EMG-triggered closed loop stimulation has the same amount of effect when applied non-invasively in humans is still unknown. This proposed study is a proof-of-principle to demonstrate the potential of non-invasive closed-loop stimulation in humans with incomplete cervical SCI. We will test different combinations of triggered and non-triggered electrical and magnetic stimulation, and record the short-term effects on nerve transmission and skilled function of hand muscles. This pilot study will be a foundation for future studies combining EMG-triggered stimulation with long-term physical exercise training.
This is a randomized, controlled, single-blind, multicenter, two Arm (Treatment or "Scaffold" Arm; Standard of Care or "Comparator" Arm) of a Neuro-Spinal Scaffold to evaluate whether the Scaffold is safe and demonstrates probable benefit for the treatment of complete T2-T12 spinal cord injury as compared to standard of care open spine surgery.
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been used for decades in rehabilitation centers. Having demonstrated efficacy for prevention of muscle atrophy following spinal cord injury (SCI), FES can also be considered for functional restoration of hand movements in the patients with complete tetraplegia belonging to group 0 or 1 of the classification of Giens. However, the majority of the systems using the FES directly stimulates the muscles (surface electrodes, intramuscular or epimysial), which increases the number of components and requires more electrical energy for the muscle activation. Nerve stimulation would activate more muscles through a reduced number of electrodes, limiting the number of internal components, reduces the risk of spreading infections and require less electrical energy for its operation.
Robotic gait training is often used with the aim to improve walking ability in individuals with Spinal Cord Injury. However, robotic gait training alone may not be sufficient. This study will compare the effects of robotic gait training alone to robotic gait training combined with either low-frequency or high-frequency non-invasive transspinal electrical stimulation. In people with motor-incomplete SCI, a series of clinical and electrical tests of nerve function will be performed before and after 20 sessions of gait training with or without stimulation.
This study tests the feasibility, safety and efficacy of garments embedding conductive electrodes (FES-shirt) for the independent delivery of functional electrical stimulation (FES). 12 people with SCI and 12 people with stroke who have some degree of arm paralysis will receive 40 hours of FES with these FES-shirt. The ability to use the FES-shirts and the improvement in function while receiving FES will indicate the immediate benefits. Their functional capabilities will be measured before and after 40 FES sessions to evaluate the carry-over effects.
An injury to the spinal cord can be life altering: with a 'complete' injury, the affected individual is unable to move their legs at all and may become wheelchair-bound. While a 'complete' injury suggests that the cord was completely severed, it is actually more common for some connections in the spinal cord to remain after it is injured but, for some reason, they are inactive or sleeping. Electrical stimulation applied to the skin surface at the lower back appears to 'wake up' these remaining connections, allowing some (previously unavailable) leg movements. The first time they had this spinal stimulation (SS), people with long-standing 'complete' spinal cord injuries became able to move their legs and, after several weeks of SS, these movements seemed to increase. They also noticed other changes taking place, including improvements in their bladder control. SS has been shown to cause strong leg extension movements, and one person with SCI stood up with SS, using minimal support. SS for standing may assist people with SCI to carry out daily tasks at home, which would hugely benefit the SCI community. In this study we will explore whether SS enables people with SCI to stand up and whether regular sit-to-stand training combined with SS improves; i) standing ability; ii) bladder control and; iii) well-being, in people with SCI. Ten volunteers with SCI will carry out an 8-week sit-to-stand training programme. Training will be carried out 3 times/week at Neurokinex using their Keiser Power Rack. The volunteers will be randomly assigned either to the control (sit-to-stand only) or test (sit-to-stand plus SS) group. Measurements will be taken before and after the training programme to assess standing ability, bladder function, and well-being.
The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of nerve transfer surgery for restoring hand function as a therapy for patients with cervical spinal cord injury.