Spinal Cord Injuries Clinical Trials

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the safety and feasibility of providing extra doses of rehabilitation therapy for persons with a recent stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and/or spinal cord injury (SCI). The therapy treatment targets to improve arm function by introducing telerehabilitation to the bedside of participants during the inpatient rehab admission period. Participants will use a newly developed functional training system (HandyMotion) to access therapy treatment program directly from their hospital room. HandyMotion is a sensor-based training system that can connect to the TV set in the hospital room, enabling patients to access their therapy training program to practice rehab-oriented games and exercises ad libitum, at any time of the day. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the effects of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TSCS) combined with exoskeleton training, as compared to exoskeleton training alone to improve motor function in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury who are 12 months or less post-injury. Participants will be randomly assigned to a treatment group (exoskeleton training with TSCS, or exoskeleton training without TSCS). Participants in both groups will undergo a baseline evaluation, then take part in 24, 1-hour training sessions at Craig Hospital. After the 24 sessions have concluded, participants will undergo a post-treatment evaluation as well as a follow-up evaluation four weeks after training is completed. Researchers will compare the two groups by evaluating the following areas: * walking ability and speed * lower extremity strength, activation, and spasticity * trunk control * bowel and bladder function Read Less

Acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) involves brief (1 min), repeated episodes (\~15) of breathing low oxygen air to stimulate spinal neuroplasticity. Animal and human studies show that AIH improves motor function after spinal cord injury, particularly with slightly increased carbon dioxide (hypercapnic AIH; AIHH) and task-specific training. Using a double blind cross-over design, the study will test whether AIHH improves breathing more than AIH and whether specific genetic variations are related to individuals' intervention responses. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of various hemodynamic management strategies on functional neurologic outcomes and non-neurologic adverse events in the first 5 days following acute spinal cord injury (SCI). The hemodynamic management strategies assessed include targeting a mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) goal of 85-90 mmHg, targeting a spinal cord perfusion pressure (SCPP) goal of ≥65 mmHg, or targeting normal hemodynamics, which is a MAP goal of ≥65 mmHg. Read Less

People with brainstem stroke, advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), or other disorders can become unable to move or speak despite being awake and alert. In this project, the investigators seek to further translate knowledge about interpreting brain signals related to movement, and to further develop an intracortical brain-computer interface (iBCI) that could restore rapid and intuitive use of communication apps on tablet computers by people with paralysis. Read Less

The goal of this study is to improve our understanding of speech production, and to translate this into medical devices called intracortical brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) that will enable people who have lost the ability to speak fluently to communicate via a computer just by trying to speak. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to obtain preliminary device safety information and demonstrate proof of principle (feasibility) of the ability of people with tetraplegia to control a computer cursor and other assistive devices with their thoughts. Read Less

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects that functional electrical stimulation (FES) therapy has on the way the arms, brain and spinal cord work. The study team wants to understand what recovery looks like in persons with a spinal cord injury (SCI) or peripheral nerve injury (PNI) using the MyndMove (MyndTec Inc., Ontario, Canada) therapy system. This type of therapy uses stimulation to help people with SCI and other neurological conditions to perform common tasks, work out, or strengthen muscles. Read Less

This study through the use of semi-structured interviews or focus groups will explore the lived experience with Transcutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation (TTNS) with Neurogenic Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction to generate user-defined themes regarding bladder function and catheter-related barriers and the daily impacts on one's life. Read Less

The study team is currently recruiting volunteers who are interested in participating in a brain-spinal cord-muscle response training study that aims to better understand the changes that take place in the nervous system as a result of this type of training. After spinal cord injury, brain-to-muscle connections are often interrupted. Because these connections are important in movement control, when they are not working well, movements may be disturbed. Researchers have found that people can learn to strengthen these connections through training. Strengthening these connections may be able to improve movement control and recovery after injuries. Research participants will be asked to stand, sit, and walk during the study sessions. Electrodes are placed on the skin over leg muscles for monitoring muscle activity. For examining brain-to-muscle connections, the study team will use transcranial magnetic stimulation. The stimulation is applied over the head and will indirectly stimulate brain cells with little or no discomfort. Participation in this study requires approximately three sessions per week for four months, followed by two to three sessions over another three months. Each session lasts approximately 1 hour. Read Less

Spinal cord stimulation modulates the nervous system to effectively block pain signals originating from the back and legs. Spinal cord stimulation has been shown to improve chronic pain, improve quality of life, and reduce disability. Unfortunately, spinal cord stimulation has a high trial failure rate and a high long-term failure rate. This study consists of a prospective cohort of patients clinically scheduled to undergo spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of chronic back pain or radiculopathy. Participants will undergo a structured optimization evaluating existing types of stimulation (tonic, burst, and multistim). Each participant will try out all types of available stimulation but be blinded to the type. Over the course of four months, each participant will evaluate each type of stimulation by reporting daily pain scores. Thompson sampling will be used to identify which setting produces the biggest improvement in pain and recommend it for future use. Participants will follow up routinely to collect laboratory, behavioral, and survey responses to test for the feasibility of obtaining data explaining pain phenotype. Read Less

The Investigators will recruit 35 participants with acute SCI (within 6 weeks of injury) Fasting blood collection and bowel function survey will be conducted 3 times: at baseline \[within 6 weeks of injury\], 6, and 12 months after SCI. Stool will be collected for gut microbiome analysis 3 times. Read Less