Active clinical trials for "Spinal Cord Injuries"

Accumulating evidence suggests that repeatedly breathing low oxygen levels for brief periods (termed intermittent hypoxia) is a safe and effective treatment strategy to promote meaningful functional recovery in persons with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). The goal of the study is to understand how caffeine may augment the effects of intermittent hypoxia on motor function and spinal plasticity (ability of the nervous system to strengthen neural pathways based on new experiences) following SCI.

The purpose of this randomized controlled study is to evaluate psychological variables, mindfulness, and pain in the context of a specialized yoga program for individuals with SCI. Participants will be randomized to either a wait-list control condition or to a specialized yoga program condition.

The main goal of this project is to determine the effects of lidocaine lubricant on cardiovascular function during routine bowel care in individuals with spinal cord injury. Bowel care is a common trigger of blood pressure and heart rate changes after spinal cord injury. In this project, we will be measuring blood pressure and heart rate non-invasively during normal bowel routine (which can be performed in the subject's home or at one of the investigators facilities). The measurements will occur twice over a period of 28 days: once using lidocaine lubricant and once using normal (placebo) lubricant. The recording equipment will be attached and subjects will have complete privacy during their bowel routine. The trial will be double-blind, meaning that neither the subject or the Nurse Continence Advisor who assists with testing will know which lubricant is being used for each test. The use of a lubricant gel containing an anesthetic is the standard of care in many hospital facilities when performing bowel care for individuals with spinal cord injury; however, it is not often used in the home setting. It is thought that using anaesthetic might reduce the cardiovascular effects of bowel care after spinal cord injury. However, it is not known whether this is the case. The investigators hypothesize that the lidocaine lubricant will alleviate some of the blood pressure and heart rate changes that occur during bowel care.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether botulinum toxin A is effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain in spinal cord injury patients.

The aim is to investigate the influence of caffeine on heart rate variability and on performance in a 3 min exercise test in different population groups (able-bodied, paraplegic and tetraplegic subjects). In general, the investigators are interested in the differences between the heart rate variability before and after caffeine supplementation and if the subjects exercise performance is enhanced using this type of supplementation. Another objective is to see whether there are differences between able-bodied and disabled subjects. Tetraplegic subjects showed in some previous studies no Low-Frequency-component (LF) for heart rate variability and no increase in catecholamines after the ingestion of caffeine. Therefore the investigators think, that tetraplegic subjects won't show any ergogenic effect in exercise performance after the intake of caffeine. On the other hand, paraplegic subjects should show similar differences of heart rate variability after the ingestion of caffeine as able-bodied subjects. Paraplegic subjects should benefit from caffeine supplementation in an increase in exercise performance.

People with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are among the least physically active groups in our society. Approximately 1 in 4 healthy young persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) does not have sufficient fitness to perform many essential activities of daily living. About 50% of people with SCI engage in no leisure time physical activity. That is, they do not wheel or walk for pleasure, don't play a sport, don't exercise at home or go to a gym. As a result of this, cardiovascular, endocrine and metabolic conditions adversely affect the health of a large segment of the SCI population. Fortunately, clinic and/or laboratory-based aerobic conditioning and circuit training studies provide compelling evidence that people with SCI can improve their cardiorespiratory fitness and by doing so can partially reverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, enhance Quality of Life (QOL) and improve elements of subjective well-being. While intensive, clinic-based, supervised exercise programs can improve the fitness and health of persons with SCI, the value of these findings for the SCI population is limited because the vast majority of people do not have access to these specialized programs and facilities. The gap that the present study addresses is: How can we extend the benefits of increased exercise and physical activity to more people with SCI? The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of an individually tailored, home- or community-based, telephone delivered intervention that uses evidence-based behavioral and motivational counseling to increase daily physical activity and exercise.

Pilot study on 7 subjects in each group (total 21 subjects) to establish the safety and feasibility of autologous bone marrow cell transplantation in case of acute complete spinal cord injury by each of the following techniques and a corresponding number of controlled subjects: Directly into the injured site with a syringe after exposing the spinal cord. By Intrathecal injection.

This study will look at the use of a telehealth version of a self management program in individuals with both new onset and chronic traumatic spinal cord injuries. The program is called Health Mechanics. It is meant to enhance self management skills related to neurogenic bladder and bowel management to prevent associated problems and improve Quality of Life (QOL). This program is based on the needs and strengths of individuals with SCI. It focuses on enhancing skills, encouraging positive health behaviors, empowering people within their own environments, and recognizing that people differ in their resources and abilities. The skills that are part of the intervention are: attitude, self-monitoring, problem-solving, communication, organization and stress management. This study will address those skills in the context of bladder and bowel health, with expectations that these skills to be useful in other areas of life as well. The investigators hypothesize that individuals in the Health Mechanics intervention group will: show greater improvements in problem solving skills, healthy attitudes about disability and knowledge of SCI management skills than will the control group have greater adherence to recommended bladder and bowel management behaviors than the control group have fewer bladder and bowel complications than the control group have higher levels of QOL than the control group In other words, this study will investigate the effectiveness of a telehealth version of Health Mechanics to enhance self-management skills related to neurogenic bladder and bowel management in an attempt to prevent associated complications and improve QOL.

Maintenance of bone mass following spinal cord injury (SCI) is essential to fracture prevention and the associated morbidity of bed rest and further secondary complications. Intravenous (IV) zoledronic acid (ZA) is an FDA-approved drug that has been shown to be more effective than other agents in reducing bone mass resorption and leg fractures in post-menopausal women, but has not been studied in patients with acute SCI. This will be a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of IV ZA to prevent bone loss early after SCI. Up to 48 subjects will be randomized to receive a one-time dose of 5 mg of IV ZA versus placebo within 21 days of an SCI.

To investigate the clinical effect of detrusor botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) injection on neurogenic detrusor overactivity (NDO) and renal function and to compare the difference of expressions of sensory receptors and nerve growth factor (NGF) in the bladder wall of patients respond and not respond to BoNT-A injections in chronic spinal cord injured (SCI) patients.