STIM2STAND
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Spinal stimulation sit-to-stand training after Spinal Cord Injury
IRAS ID
225708
Contact name
Lynsey Duffell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
UCL Data Protection, Z6364106/2017/11/14
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 14 days
Research summary
Research Summary
An injury to the spinal cord can be life altering: with a ‘complete’ injury, the affected individual is unable to move their legs at all and may become wheelchair-bound. While a ‘complete’ injury suggests that the cord was completely severed, it is actually more common for some connections in the spinal cord to remain after it is injured but, for some reason, they are inactive or sleeping.
Electrical stimulation applied to the skin surface at the lower back appears to ‘wake up’ these remaining connections, allowing some (previously unavailable) leg movements. The first time they had this spinal stimulation (SS), people with long-standing ‘complete’ spinal cord injuries became able to move their legs and, after several weeks of SS, these movements seemed to increase. They also noticed other changes taking place, including improvements in their bladder control.
SS has been shown to cause strong leg extension movements, and one person with SCI stood up with SS, using minimal support. SS for standing may assist people with SCI to carry out daily tasks at home, which would hugely benefit the SCI community.
In this study we will explore whether SS enables people with SCI to stand up and whether regular sit-to-stand training combined with SS improves; i) standing ability; ii) bladder control and; iii) well-being, in people with SCI.
Ten volunteers with SCI will carry out an 8-week sit-to-stand training programme. Training will be carried out 3 times/week at Neurokinex using their Keiser Power Rack. The volunteers will be randomly assigned either to the control (sit-to-stand only) or test (sit-to-stand plus SS) group. Measurements will be taken before and after the training programme to assess standing ability, bladder function, and well-being.
Summary of Results
This project, funded by the INSPIRE foundation, explored the effects of adding transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) to an 8-week sit-to-stand training intervention on motor recovery in people living with chronic SCI. The findings indicated that the addition of tSCS was necessary to achieve recovery of voluntary motor control in the lower limb muscles of people with motor complete and incomplete SCI. One participant achieved minimally assisted standing in the presence of tSCS after the intervention. While this pilot study was underpowered to prove effectiveness of tSCS, the findings are important and justify a larger clinical trial.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/0784
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion