NCT05321017

Wrist Extensor MEP Up-conditioning for Individuals With Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

Can Increasing Motor Evoked Potential Size Improve Upper Extremity Motor Function in Individuals With Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury?

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 5 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between common clinical assessments and measurements of the function of brain-spinal cord-muscle connections, and to examine the effects of training a brain-spinal cord-muscle response in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury. A transcranial magnetic stimulator (TMS) is used for examining brain-to-muscle pathways. This stimulator produces a magnetic field for a very short period of time and indirectly stimulates brain cells with little or no discomfort. The target muscle is the wrist extensor (extensor carpi radialis) muscle that bends the wrist back. It is hypothesized that training the wrist extensor muscle response to transcranial magnetic stimulation will increase the strength of the brain-to-muscle pathway, which will improve the ability to move the arm. It is hoped that the results of this training study will help in developing therapy strategies for individuals, promoting better understanding of clinical assessments, and understanding treatments that aim to improve function recovery in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). This study requires 30 visits, and each visit will last approximately 1.5 hours.

Conditions

• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Quadriplegia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	MEP Operant Up-conditioning of the Wrist Extensor	This is a training intervention in which the brain-spinal cord-muscle pathways are strengthened in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a type of brain stimulation, will be used to elicit a muscle response from the wrist extensor (extensor carpi radialis), the muscle the bends the wrist back.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-10-12
• Primary completion: 2026-06-30
• Completion: 2026-06-30
• First posted: 2022-04-11
• Last updated: 2025-06-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States