Journal
JOURNAL OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE
Volume 48, Issue 7, Pages 589-596Publisher
FOUNDATION REHABILITATION INFORMATION
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2101
Keywords
spinal cord injury; transcranial magnetic stimulation; vestibulospinal; vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials; corticospinal; electromyography
Categories
Funding
- Swedish Centre for Sports Research (CIF)
- Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: To use a combination of electrophysiological techniques to determine the extent of preserved muscle activity below the clinically-defined level of motor-complete spinal cord injury. Methods: Transcranial magnetic stimulation and vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials were used to investigate whether there was any preserved muscle activity in trunk, hip and leg muscles of 16 individuals with motor-complete spinal cord injury (C4-T12) and 16 able-bodied matched controls. Results: Most individuals (14/16) with motor-complete spinal cord injury were found to have transcranial magnetic stimulation evoked, and/or voluntary evoked muscle activity in muscles innervated below the clinically classified lesion level. In most cases voluntary muscle activation was accompanied by a present transcranial magnetic stimulation response. Furthermore, motor-evoked potentials to transcranial magnetic stimulation could be observed in muscles that could not be voluntarily activated. Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials responses were also observed in a small number of subjects, indicating the potential preservation of other descending pathways. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of using multiple electrophysiological techniques to assist in determining the potential preservation of muscle activity below the clinically-defined level of injury in individuals with a motor-complete spinal cord injury. These techniques may provide clinicians with more accurate information about the state of various motor pathways, and could offer a method to more accurately target rehabilitation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available