Retraining Walking After Spinal Cord Injury

Launched by EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (NICHD) · Apr 28, 2003

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Conventional rehabilitation following spinal cord injury (SCI) emphasizes functional gains through strengthening and compensation, using braces and assistive devices to achieve mobility. Rehabilitation practice using compensatory approaches is based on the prevailing assumption that neural recovery is not possible following SCI.

Recent evidence contradicts this assumption. Stimulated by the proper activation of peripheral afferents associated with walking, neuronal circuits may reorganize by strengthening of existing and previously inactive descending connections and local neural circuits....

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion criteria:
• • First time spinal cord injury (SCI) from trauma, vascular, or orthopedic pathology at cervical or thoracic levels
• • Category C or D SCI as defined by the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale
• • 1 to 3 years post-SCI
• • Ability to walk independently a minimum of 40 feet with or without an assistive device
• • Currently spending a minimum of 30 minutes per day walking
• • No change in anti-spasticity medication during the study
• • Medically stable
• • Participant's personal physician must verify the participant's medical status
• Exclusion criteria:
• • Bladder infection, decubiti, osteoporosis, cardiopulmonary disease, pain, or other significant medical complications that would prohibit or interfere with training and testing of walking function or alter compliance with a training protocol
• • Currently participating in a rehabilitation program or another research protocol that could interfere or influence the outcome measures of the current study
• • Congenital SCI (e.g., Chiari malformation, myelomeningocele, intraspinal neoplasm, Frederich's ataxia)
• • Other degenerative spinal disorders (e.g., spinocerebellar degeneration, syringomyelia) that may complicate the treatment or evaluation procedures