NCT05571033

Operant Conditioning of the Soleus Stretch Reflex in Adults With Cerebral Palsy

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 12 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Burke Medical Research Institute · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

12 adults with spastic CP will complete 6 baseline sessions and 24 down conditioning sessions held 3 times/week. All clinical and physiological assessments collected at baseline will be reassessed after study completion, and follow ups after 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months. The soleus H reflex (electric analogue of the stretch reflex) will be elicited in all sessions. In each session, participants will complete 20 baseline trials and 225 down conditioning trials to decrease the magnitude of the H-Reflex.

Detailed description

Individuals with CP face significant challenges due to spasticity that causes activity and participation restrictions with increase in secondary conditions. This is caused by injury to the upper motor neurons causing disruption to the neural circuitry responsible for maintaining motor tone. A novel intervention, OC of the H reflex has shown promising effects to reduce spasticity and improve motor function in people with stroke and spinal cord. Its many known benefits include easy administration, non-invasive technique, no side effects, and long-term retention. In the study, the investigators will attempt to decrease the increased muscle tone of individuals with CP. If successful, it will not only provide evidence for future clinical application but also broaden the scope for alternate or supplementary non-invasive treatment approaches to decrease spasticity.

Conditions

• Cerebral Palsy
• Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Spinal reflex conditioning	Each participant will serve as their own control. The intervention is 30 sessions. The first 6 sessions are baseline measures of reflexes. The remaining sessions will engage participants in learning how to decrease their reflex activity in their calf muscle on the more-affected leg. Each intervention visit will involve 20 trials in which participants do not get visual feedback about their performance, then 225 trials with visual feedback.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-09-30
• Primary completion: 2025-12-31
• Completion: 2026-12-31
• First posted: 2022-10-07
• Last updated: 2023-09-26

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States