Effect of transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) on the First Flexion Angle and Abductor Hallucis H-reflex in a person with T4-motor-complete spinal cord injury

DOI:10.34945/F50C71

DATASET CITATION

Lieu B., Everaert D. G., Ho C., Gorassini M. A. (2023) Effect of transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) on the First Flexion Angle and Abductor Hallucis H-reflex in a person with T4-motor-complete spinal cord injury. Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury. ODC-SCI:980 http://doi.org/10.34945/F50C71

ABSTRACT

STUDY PURPOSE: Spasticity after a spinal cord injury (SCI) is common and can hinder completion of daily tasks. This case study examines the reduction in hypertonus in a person with T4-motor- complete-SCI using a commercial transcutaneous electrical stimulator (TES) at 150-Hz applied to the lower back and the possible mechanisms producing this reduction in leg tone.

DATA COLLECTED: Hypertonus of both lower legs before and during lumbosacral TES applied over the spinal column (MID) or 10-cm lateral (LAT) was measured with the pendulum test. To estimate how proprioceptive afferents and spinal neuronal networks were affected by lumbosacral TES, H-reflexes and cutaneomuscular reflexes, respectively, were also measured. Hypertonus disappeared in both legs but only during lumbosacral TES. During the pendulum test, MID TES increased the excursion of both lower legs after release from a horizontal position by an average of 63.3% that was similar to the increase produced by LAT TES (47.8%). Both locations of lumbosacral TES increased H-reflexes but decreased the first polysynaptic response of the cutaneomuscular reflex.

CONCLUSIONS: This case study demonstrates that a low cost, commercially available TES device applied to the lower back instantaneously “switches off” hypertonus but only during the applied high frequency (150 Hz) stimulation. Given that a relatively inexpensive, pocket-sized stimulator made it easier for this participant to carry out daily tasks, it is important to further explore the potential applicability of thoracolumbar TES to treat hypertonus in people with SCI, what types of TES parameters and injuries are most responsive and to investigate the mechanisms leading to the observed reduction in hypertonia.

KEYWORDS

Spinal Cord Injury; transcutaneous electrical stimulation; hypertonus; pendulum test; H-reflex; cutaneomuscular reflex

PROVENANCE / ORIGINATING PUBLICATIONS

RELEVANT LINKS

NOTES

DATASET INFO

Contact: Gorassini Monica (monica.gorassini@ualberta.ca)

Lab: Gorassini

ODC-SCI Accession:980

Records in Dataset: 40

Fields per Record: 27

Last updated: 2023-11-22

Date published: 2023-11-22

Downloads: 6

Files: 2

LICENSE

Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0)

FUNDING AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant (PS 180430) M.A.G., Craig Neilson Foundation (727772) C.H.

CONTRIBUTORS

Lieu, Brandon

University of Alberta

Everaert, Dirk G.

University of Alberta

Ho, Chester

University of Alberta

Gorassini, Monica A.

University of Alberta