Comparison of training methods to improve walking in persons with chronic spinal cord injury: a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To compare two forms of device-specific training - body-weight-supported (BWS) ambulation on a fixed track (TRK) and BWS ambulation on a treadmill (TM) - to comprehensive physical therapy (PT) for improving walking speed in persons with chronic, motor-incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods: Thirty-five adult subjects with a history of chronic SCI (>1 year; AIS 'C' or 'D') participated in a 13-week (1 hour/day; 3 days per week) training program. Subjects were randomized into one of the three training groups.

Tendon reflexes for predicting movement recovery after acute spinal cord injury in humans.

Objective: Use the tendon reflex to examine spinal cord excitability after acute spinal cord injury (SCI), relating excitability findings to prognosis.

Methods: We conducted repeated measures of reflex responses to mechanical taps at the patellar and Achilles tendons of the lower limbs, and the wrist flexor tendons of the upper limbs in persons with acute SCI, beginning as early as the day of injury. The single largest EMG response (peak-to-peak) for each site was recorded.

Abductor hallucis for monitoring lower-limb recovery after spinal cord injury in man.

Study Design: Electromyogram (EMG) study on patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI).

Objectives: We hypothesized that subjects with mild to moderate acute SCI would have a higher probability of recovering function in intrinsic muscles of the foot compared to more proximal lower-limb muscles, based on the relative density of corticospinal tract innervation to these different motoneuron pools.

Setting: Miami and Syracuse, USA.