1. Non-invasive brain stimulation and robot-assisted gait training after incomplete spinal cord injury: A randomized pilot study.
- Author
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Raithatha, Ravi, Carrico, Cheryl, Powell, Elizabeth Salmon, Westgate, Philip M., Chelette II, Kenneth C., Lee, Kara, Dunsmore, Laura, Salles, Sara, and Sawaki, Lumy
- Subjects
THERAPEUTICS ,SPINAL cord injuries ,ACADEMIC medical centers ,ANALYSIS of covariance ,CONFIDENCE intervals ,ELECTRIC stimulation ,GAIT disorder treatment ,RESEARCH funding ,ROBOTICS ,T-test (Statistics) ,PILOT projects ,RANDOMIZED controlled trials ,TREATMENT effectiveness ,BLIND experiment ,DATA analysis software ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Locomotor training with arobot-assisted gait orthosis (LT-RGO) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are interventions that can significantly enhance motor performance after spinal cord injury (SCI). No studies have investigated whether combining these interventions enhances lower extremity motor function following SCI. OBJECTIVE: Determine whether active tDCS paired with LT-RGO improves lower extremity motor function more than a sham condition, in subjects with motor incomplete SCI. METHODS: Fifteen adults with SCI received 36 sessions of either active (n = 9) or sham (n = 6) tDCS (20 minutes) preceding LT-RGO (1 hour). Outcome measures included manual muscle testing (MMT; primary outcome measure); 6-Minute Walk Test (6MinWT); 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT); Timed Up and Go Test (TUG); Berg Balance Scale (BBS); and Spinal Cord Independence Measure-III (SCIM-III). RESULTS: MMT showed significant improvements after active tDCS, with the most pronounced improvement in the right lower extremity. 10MWT, 6MinWT, and BBS showed improvement for both groups. TUG and SCIM-III showed improvement only for the sham tDCS group. CONCLUSION: Pairing tDCS with LT-RGO can improve lower extremity motor function more than LT-RGO alone. Future research with a larger sample size is recommended to determine longer-term effects on motor function and activities of daily living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
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