Investigating Kinematic and Electromyographic Changes After SCI and Their Relation to Clinical and Functional Outcome

University of Zurich (UZH)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Spinal Cord Injury

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02150629

KEK-ZH-2011-0257/PB_2016-00228

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study aims at discerning specific gait patterns and elucidating locomotor control of spinal cord injured patients in order to find sensitive kinematic and electromyographic outcome measures that are able to reveal information on underlying mechanisms of normal and aberrant gait control and its recovery over time. These measures may also be used to compare the outcome across different neurological disorders.

Enrollment: 161 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Patients: We will monitor patients who were admitted to the Spinal Cord Injury Center of the University Hospital Balgrist. We will record patients with various aetiologies, grades of impairment and types of spinal cord lesions. Patients need to have minimal voluntary motor capacities: the motor scores of the key muscles according to the ASIA classification (www.asia-spinalinjury.org) should be at least 3 for extensor muscles and 2 for flexor muscles. Written informed consent is required. Control subjects: Healthy subjects, written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

Patients: Comorbidities which influence or inhibit gait or upper-limb motion (e.g. peripheral nerve lesions). Orthostatic problems that greatly impair upright body position. Mental illness, cognitive impairments. Control subjects: neurologic disease, walking disabilities, mental illness, cognitive impairments

Trial design

161 participants in 2 patient groups

SCI patients

Healthy subjects