View clinical trials related to Spinal Cord Injuries.
Filter by:The purpose of this project is to pilot test a decision-making tool that is tailored for women with SCI to support them in the decision-making process. Pilot testing focuses on feasibility and preliminary efficacy.
Falls is a health crisis that costs health care systems billions of dollars each year. This crisis is especially relevant for people living with spinal cord injury (SCI) as most of these people will fall at least once per year. Falls can cause injury and a fear of falling, which often causes people to restrict their mobility and daily activities. Despite its importance, fall prevention for people with SCI is understudied, and as a result, there is a lack of treatments to address their high fall risk. We will evaluate a new treatment for fall prevention. Photovoice is a method that uses photographs and dialogue to share experiences, understand an issue and promote positive change. Specifically, we aim to evaluate the effects of photovoice on confidence related to balance and falls, occurrence of falls, participation in daily activities and quality of life among people living with SCI. We also aim to understand participants' experiences with photovoice as a fall prevention program. To achieve these aims, 40 individuals living with SCI will participate in this study. Participants will complete a six-week photovoice program that involves photo assignments, individual interviews and group meetings. The program will be led by a person with SCI and a member of the research team with a background in physical or occupational therapy or kinesiology. Questionnaires will be used throughout the study to measure confidence, participation and quality of life. The occurrence of falls will be tracked for 12 weeks before and after the photovoice program. At the end of the study, each participant's experiences with photovoice will be collected through interviews. The proposed research will address a critical gap in SCI rehabilitation, namely effective fall prevention, to improve well-being after SCI. The research findings will inform the need for, and design of, a larger clinical trial, and has the potential to transform fall prevention after SCI. The data sharing plan includes sharing study-related information with people living with spinal cord injury. Dissemination activities targeting this group will be developed with input from study participants (e.g., photos may be converted to printed and online art displays and shared through community SCI organizations). Dissemination initiatives will also target health care administrators and rehabilitation clinicians. Study information will be shared with the professional associations representing these groups. To reach researchers in the SCI rehabilitation field, study findings will be presented at academic conferences and in rehabilitation-focused journals.
This study looks to characterize autonomic nervous system dysfunction after spinal cord injury and identify the potential role that transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation may play at altering neuroregulation. The autonomic nervous system plays key parts in regulation of blood pressure, skin blood flow, and bladder health- all issues that individuals with spinal cord injury typically encounter complications. For both individuals with spinal cord injury and uninjured controls, experiments will utilize multiple parallel recordings to identify how the autonomic nervous system is able to inhibit and activate sympathetic signals. The investigators anticipate that those with autonomic dysfunction after spinal cord injury will exhibit abnormalities in these precise metrics. In both study populations, transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation will be added, testing previously advocated parameters to alter autonomic neuroregulation. In accomplishing this, the investigators hope to give important insights to how the autonomic nervous system works after spinal cord injury and if it's function can be improved utilizing neuromodulation.
This randomized crossover study will compare walking with KAFO type orthoses (current standard of care) versus the ABLE Exoskeleton device, during walking in patients with spinal cord injury in a hospital setting. The ABLE Exoskeleton is a robotic exoskeleton that actively assists individuals with mobility problems to stand up, walk and sit down. The main objective of the study is to compare the energy efficiency during gait with both devices. Secondary objectives are: compare gait kinematics, usability, user's satisfaction, physical activity and psychosocial impact. The study will also serve to evaluate the usability and safety of the ABLE Exoskeleton in clinical practice. Subjects will complete 10 gait training sessions during a 5-week period with 1 of the 2 devices randomly selected, followed by a post-training assessment consisting of 1 session. Once the test is completed, subjects will have a 2-week rest period after which they will repeat the process with the other device for 5 weeks (followed by 1 post-training assessment session). The study will be conducted at Hospital Asepeyo Barcelona in Spain, where a total of 10 patients will be recruited.
The purpose of this research project is to investigate the incidence of impaired swallowing (dysphagia) after anterior cervical spine surgery (ACSS) and to study the long-term effect of dysphagia on nutritional status 12 ± 3 months later. Furthermore, to investigate the effect of a new rehabilitation method for dysphagia among individuals with swallowing dysfunction after ACSS.
To evaluate the usefulness of an upper extremity (UE) assistive device, called (MyoPro) in improving upper extremity activities in people with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI)
The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of mild breathing bouts of low oxygen (intermittent hypoxia) combined with transcutaneous electrical spinal cord stimulation on restoring hand function in persons with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury.
After incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI), many people still have control over their upper and/or lower limbs, but secondary conditions such as spasticity impair the function they have left. Spasticity includes increased reflex response and muscle tone, and is often painful. In this study we want to test a rehabilitation therapy to reduce spasticity after iSCI and improve participants' control over their extremities. The study involves recording participants' brain signals (EEG) and displaying them on a computer, so that they learn to control specific features derived from their brain waves. This is called neurofeedback (NF). Two studies conducted in our group that explored NF effect on central neuropathic pain in iSCI reported as incidental finding a decrease in spasms, muscle tightness and foot drop. The effect of NF is immediate and lasts up to 24 hours. In this study, we will explore systematically the short- and medium-term effect of NF on a larger number of iSCI, to inform a potential randomized clinical trial. Gaining control over one's brain activity requires practice and 80-90% people eventually learn the skill. Each participant will therefore attend five sessions of NF taking no longer than two hours each. 20 participants will be recruited and assigned to either upper or lower limb spasticity groups. This will allow us to determine if the mechanism of NF differs between arms and legs. Participants will be further grouped into sub-acute and chronic groups, depending on the time since injury, to pinpoint at what stage post-injury NF is the most effective. All groups will receive the same number of NF sessions. The primary outcome of this study is the change in spasticity of the hand or leg, as measured by the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS). Secondary outcomes include use of arm/leg, quality of life, and the relation between functional improvement and EEG changes. Outcomes will be compared before/after each session, and before/after the whole intervention period, both inter- and intra-group.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the rate of occurrence of urethral pain in female patients with neurological vesico-sphincter disorders whilst performing self-catheterization using GentleCath™ Air catheters.
The purpose of this study is to examine how delivery of subthreshold electrical stimulation of the spinal cord alters the excitability of neural pathways and consequently movement performance in healthy and spinal cord injured individuals. Specifically, we assess how stimulation parameters such as electrode configurations and stimulation frequency affect spinal excitability, corticospinal excitability, intracortical excitability, motor unit properties and force production. This study is not an intervention study, but a mechanistic study trying to shed light on how this novel neuromodulatory technique acutely affects the central nervous system.