24 |
HOUSTON METHODIST ACADEMIC INSTITUTE
Noninvasive Spinal Stimulation
Enables Paralyzed People to Stand Unassisted Dimitry Sayenko MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurosurgery, and his colleagues in the Neuromodulation & Recovery Lab are developing ways to promote mobility in people who have sustained a spinal cord injury.
Regaining the ability to control a full
Dimitry Sayenko MD, PhD
minimal external assistance applied to the knees or hips, using
weight-bearing standing posture without
their hands for upper-body balance as needed. The quality of
assistance from weight-supporting
their balance control improved with continued training. When
devices or other people is a key goal
the participants shifted their weight while standing, high levels
for someone who is paralyzed. Not only
of leg muscle activity emerged that depended on the amount
does this ability provide a greater level
of muscle loading.
of physical independence and mobility, maintaining balance when standing is the foundation for regaining the ability
These findings suggest that the noninvasive stimulation therapy
to walk, including stepping with assistance from robotic
can modulate the spinal circuitry into a physiological state that
devices being developed at Houston Methodist and
enables sensory inputs during weight-bearing to serve as a
other places.
primary source of neural control to maintain externally unassisted upright posture and balance.
In a well-controlled clinical study published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, people with spinal cord injuries who could
Sayenko recently began collaborating with Niche Biomedical to
not stand unassisted received noninvasive transcutaneous
initiate a sponsored clinical trial evaluating the effects of spinal
electrical spinal cord stimulation via electrodes placed on
stimulation on upper limb function in individuals with spinal cord
the spinal column three days per week for a month.
injuries. Niche Biomedical is a multidisciplinary bioelectronics medical device company focused on developing neuromodulatory
Following this treatment, all the participants could maintain
technologies to address chronic conditions that have previously
an upright standing position either independently or with
defied conventional medical treatment.
