View clinical trials related to Spinal Cord Injury.
Filter by:Following a complete spinal cord injury (SCI), individuals experience progressive bone loss, especially in the legs, with up to 70% of persons with SCI sustaining a fracture at some point during their lifetime. Fractures following SCI are costly to treat and more than half of patients experience a medical complication, requiring extended hospitalization, resulting in a substantial impact on their quality of life. To reduce the incidence of fractures, more effective rehabilitation strategies to prevent bone loss are needed. The goal of this research is to determine if bone health can be preserved using an indoor rowing exercise program in which the leg muscles are electrically stimulated using several, small surface electrode pads that are placed on the skin on the front and back thigh muscles. An encouraging case study has recently shown remarkable bone preservation in one individual with SCI who participated in an electrical stimulation rowing program, however, whether other individuals with SCI can achieve the same benefit is currently unknown.
Although conventional risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) have been identified and routinely used to determine risk for CHD in the general population, a systematic approach to determine population-specific risk for CHD has not been performed prospectively in those with SCI. CHD is a leading cause of death in spinal cord injury, occurring at younger ages than in the able-bodied population. Conventional risk factors for CHD are high serum concentrations of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), low serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), diabetes mellitus (DM), positive smoking history, and positive family history of premature CHD. Coronary Artery calcification (CAC) is a commonly occurring phenomenon that does not necessarily indicate significant obstructive disease. Studies have shown that a strong association exists between coronary calcification and coronary heart disease. The purpose of this study is to compare the CAC scores in persons with SCI with a historical control group of able-bodied persons from a national data base who will be matched for conventional risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and to determine the relationship between CAC scores and conventional and emerging risk factors for CAD. Additionally, postprandial lipemic (elevated levels of lipids following ingestion of food) responses among individuals with SCI and control subjects will be compared, as well as the response of inflammatory markers following a high fat meal. Participants will only be tested once for these parameters.
Evidences showed that patients suffering from spinal cord injury (SCI) have poor mobility and higher chance to develop cardiopulmonary diseases, which leads to poor quality of life and shorter life expectancy. Different modalities were developed aiming at mobility restoration in SCI patients and robotic assisted body weight supported treadmill training is one of the latest technique in recent years. Yet there are scarce studies to investigate its effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of robotic-assisted body weight supported treadmill training on mobility and cardiopulmonary function of patients suffering from SCI by a randomized controlled trial. 80 patients suffering from incomplete SCI will be recruited for an 8-week training program. They will be randomized into either robotic assisted body weight supported treadmill training group or passive lower limb mobilization training group. The training effects will be measured by Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury version II, lower extremity motor score, lower limb Modified Ashworth Scale, robotic gait system, gait analysis and gas analysis under sub maximal exercise stress test. Through the study, we intent to find the effectiveness of robotic-assisted body weight support treadmill training on walking and cardiopulmonary recovery with patients suffering from incomplete spinal cord injury. The hypothesis of the study is: Compared to the control group, robotic-assisted body weight supported treadmill training leads to a greater improvement in walking ability and cardiopulmonary functioning.
As the spinal cord injured population ages, these individuals are being exposed to an increased prevalence of age-associated diseases, which coupled with the secondary complications of the injury may contribute to the reduced life expectancies. Decentralized autonomic regulation in persons with SCI results in a multitude of cardiovascular changes, which may contribute to accelerated aging. Adverse cardiovascular changes may have deleterious effects on cerebral blood flow dynamics and an increase in cerebral vascular resistance index in individuals with SCI during cognitive testing. Deficits in memory and processing speed in individuals with SCI may relate to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular dysfunction. Identifying the associations between healthy aging versus premature or accelerated aging in organ system function in the SCI population is an important first step towards prevention and amelioration of these changes. Therefore the study objectives are to compare, among individuals with SCI, age-matched non-SCI and older non-SCI individuals arterial stiffness and cerebral vascular resistance index; memory, processing speed, and executive function; and volume of white matter hyperintensities. 60 individuals with SCI, 30 age-matched non-SCI controls, and 20 older non-SCI controls will be recruited for this study. All potential subjects will undergo a two-part screening process which consists of an initial screening via telephone and a detailed, in-person screening. Eligible subjects will be invited to participate in a 4 hour laboratory visit during which their arterial stiffness, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate and, blood flow to the brain will be monitored at rest and during a comprehensive series of cognitive tests. A subset of the participants will be asked to take part in an MRI brain imaging session: 40 persons with SCI, 10 age-matched non-SCI and 10 older non-SCI. Eligible subjects will be asked to participate in a 1 hour MRI/functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) session. We hypothesize that arterial stiffness and cerebral vascular resistance index will be increased in the SCI group compared to the age-matched non-SCI but will be comparable to the older non-SCI groups. In addition, we hypothesize that the prevalence of mild to moderate cognitive impairments in memory, processing speed, and executive function will be increased in the SCI individuals compared to the age-matched non-SCI but will be comparable to the older non-SCI individuals.
This study is to determine if non-invasive electrical stimulation of the spinal cord can be used to: 1) assess spared function following a spinal cord injury; and 2) be use for rehabilitation.
Introduction: It is known that people with spinal cord injury (SCI) bear a considerably increased risk of developing pressure ulcer, whereby frictional forces and shear forces are recognized as risk factors. It was the aim of the study to examine the effects of a specially developed low-friction hospital bed sheet on skin physiology as well as it's acceptance by patients with SCI. Method: Prospective, randomised crossover study. Patients with a subacute spinal cord injury will be recruited. Each patient spends five consecutive nights on the new, respectively, conventional bed sheet. After the five nights, patients are asked to complete a linear questionnaire (VAS) concerning well-being, odour, perspiration and wrinkling. In addition, the patients are examined daily while still fasting, for skin redness, skin moisture, skin elasticity and skin blood circulation in the parasacral region.
The purpose of this study is to validate an instrumented wheel such as a new biomedical device. The physicians will compare this instrumented wheel with another instrumentation "Ergometer roller", each patient will try the both instrumentations, physical and physiological parameters will be measured. The increase rate of radial power during the cardiac stress test may be more important when the physicians use the instrumented wheel.
Pain affects up to 30% of the general population. In particular, neuropathic pain (NeP) is caused by lesion or desease affecting peripheral or central somatosensory pathways and affects 7% of the adult population. Despite the availability of evidence based pharmacological and surgical treatment for NeP, about 50% of patients remais symptomatic despite best medical treatment. Some neuropathic pain syndromes are specially refractory. In particular, central NeP is caused by disease or lesion to central structures involves in somatosensory integration of nociceptive information is non-responsive to drugs usually employed in other NeP syndromes. Classical neuromodulatory techniques such as conventional repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation aiming at the motor of prefrontal cortices are ineffective to relieve pain in this population. Recently new technology advances have made possible non-invasive stimulation of deeper cortical targets. Some of them are activelly involved in the integration of the perception of pain, such as the anterior cingulate cortex or the posterior insula. The aim this study is to treat 90 patients with central pain (post stroke pain, spinal cord lesions after trauma or demyelinizating diseases) under best medical pharmacological treatment in three different conditions: AAC (n= 30 with the H-Coil), Superior Posterior Insula (SPI) n=30 cooled double cone coil double cool coil, and sham(n=30). Each patients will undergo daily stimulation for a week, then weekly stimulations for 3 months (total of 17 sessions). The main study outcome is pain relief at the last stimulation week (visual-analogic scale). Secondary end-points are changes in the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory, DN4 questionnaire, SF -36, brief pain inventory and cognitive assessment including the trail making test A and B, Strrop color interference test, and subscalles from the CERAD. All patients will undergo quantitative sensory test and measurements of cortical excitability over M1 before and after to treatment.
The purpose of this study is to improve the performance of neuroprosthesis for standing after SCI by developing and testing new advanced methods that use multiple contact peripheral nerve electrodes to slow the onset of fatigue and increase standing duration. The new advanced methods will take advantage of the ability of multiple-contact nerve cuff electrodes to selectively activate portions of a muscle that perform the same action. Alternating activation to multiple muscles (or parts of the same muscle) rather than continuously activation the entire muscle group constantly should allow them to rest and recover from fatiguing contractions. This should allow users to remain upright for longer periods of time to perform activities of daily living, reduce the risk of falls due to fatigue, and increase the potential of receiving the health benefits of standing.
The goals of this study are to examine the physiology of Central Nervous System pathways contributing to the control of upper and lower extremity movements after SCI, and to promote the recovery of extremity movements by using non-invasive brain stimulation and motor training.