The goal of this project is to determine the changes in short-term excitability and long-term plasticity of corticospinal, reticulospinal, and spinal neural circuits that are involved in SCS-mediated motor function improvements in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The study will: (1) Determine the short-term effects in neural excitability induced by SCS and activity-based training. (2) Determine the effect of motor training on short-term changes in neural excitability enabled by SCS. (3) Determine the long-term changes in motor control and neural plasticity induced by combined SCS and activity-based training in individuals with chronic SCI. Having a better understanding of the neural mechanisms that are enhanced by SCS can allow the development of therapies that directly target the excitability and plasticity states of these structures towards improved and accelerated recovery.
This study will help the investigators better understand the changes in short-term excitability and long-term plasticity of corticospinal, reticulospinal and spinal neural circuits and how the changes impact the improvements of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) mediated motor function.