Improving Motor Function After Spinal Cord Injury

Completed · Not applicable · Has a placebo group

Conditions studied: Spinal Cord Injury

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01915095

Run by

VA Office of Research and Development

People needed

42

Starts

2017-09-01

Expected to finish

2019-09-01

Last updated by the study team

2021-06-11

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 85. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Male and female Veterans and non Veterans with spinal cord injury at least 6 months after injury was sustained. The investigators also plan to enroll control subjects who do not have any history of spinal cord injury.
• Participants who are unimpaired healthy controls:
• Male and females between ages 18-85 years
• Right handed
• Able to complete precision grips with both hands
• Able to complete full wrist flexion-extension bilaterally
• Able to walk unassisted
• Able to complete full ankle flexion-extension bilaterally
• Participants who have had a spinal cord injury:
• Male and females between ages 18-85 years
• Chronic SCI ( 6 months of injury)
• Spinal Cord injury at or above L5
• The ability to produce a visible precision grip force with one hand
• Individuals who have the ability to pick up a small object (large paperclip) from a table independently
• Able to perform some small wrist flexion and extension (measured by a goniometer)
• The ability to perform a small visible contraction with dorsiflexor and hip flexor muscles
• No subjects will be excluded based on their race, religion, ethnicity, gender or HIV status.

You may not qualify if…

• Exclusion criteria for enrollment For SCI and Healthy Control Subjects (for stimulation):
• Uncontrolled medical problems including pulmonary, cardiovascular or orthopedic disease
• Any debilitating disease prior to the SCI that caused exercise intolerance
• Premorbid, ongoing major depression or psychosis, altered cognitive status
• History of head injury or stroke
• Metal plate in skull
• History of seizures
• Receiving drugs acting primarily on the central nervous system, which lower the seizure threshold (see appendix 2)
• Pregnant females
• Ongoing cord compression or a syrinx in the spinal cord or who suffer from a spinal cord disease such as spinal stenosis, spina bifida, MS, or herniated cervical disk
• Individuals with scalp shrapnel, cochlear implants, or aneurysm clips.

Where it is running

• Miami VA Healthcare System, Miami, FL — Miami, Florida, United States
• Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL — Hines, Illinois, United States
• VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PA — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.