Active clinical trials for "Spinal Cord Injuries"

The purpose of this study is to examine the immediate effects of a single exercise session or a high fat/high carbohydrate meal on the physical and mental health of people with a spinal cord injury (SCI). Specifically, we want to better understand the responses in people with SCI when they conduct exercise or eat an unhealthy meal, when looking at inflammation levels, the number and function of immune cells, brain function, pain and how one feels (affect). If we can understand these responses, then clinicians, sports practitioners and dieticians can provide better advice to people with SCI.

Recovery from injury is an immune function but also involves stress. Spinal cord injury (SCI) patients are one population with a difficult recovery journey. Improvements in SCI rehabilitation could benefit patient's recovery and decrease their functional limitations. Lack of independence and chronic pain contributes to a higher rate of mental health problems (48.5%) and clinical stress (25%) in SCI patients. Depression is more common among auto-immune phenotypes and depression patients have higher pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles, suggesting stress impacts the immune system and thus opposes recovery. Mindfulness meditation (MM) is one form of stress-reduction therapy, which also decreases anxiety, depression, and pain. Little research has investigated whether this extends to functional outcomes of mental health during recovery. The investigators will look at the "functional outcomes of mental health", including stress, pain, quality of life, quality of sleep, and outcomes of depression using validated surveys. The investigators hypothesize that MM will significantly improve functional outcomes of mental health in SCI patients during their rehabilitation in a dose-dependent fashion, compared to 'standard therapy' alone control, with effects sustained 1-month post-intervention. Patients will take surveys of their mindfulness practices and mental health functional outcomes at 0 weeks (baseline), 8 weeks (post-treatment), and 12 weeks (follow-up). MM will be delivered to a randomized sample of SCI patients via one of three MM apps for 8 weeks. Linear regression will identify if patients practicing more MM have better mental health functional outcomes in a dose-dependent manner. The findings from this study will provide evidence of sustained stress-relief and mental health functional outcomes of consumer-based MM apps, which can be applied to improve SCI rehabilitation in an accessible manner.

This study uses Magnetic Resonance Imaging to image the brain and spinal cord before and after an Intermittent Hypoxia intervention. Acquiring these scans in patients with chronic cervical spinal cord injury and uninjured controls will enable characterization of changes in neurovascular physiology caused by this promising new therapy.

Objective: to verify the effect of solution-focused group therapy (SFBT) on pain management as well as physiological, psychological and social adaptation in patients with spinal cord injury. Setting: for matters of convenience, the samples were collected at medical and rehabilitation centers in Taiwan. Twenty-six patients with spinal cord injuries and neuropathic pain were invited to join the four pain management groups. Method: In the case of patients with spinal cord injury affected by neuropathic pain, a solution-focused pain management group therapy was conducted once a week for 6 weeks, 90 minutes each time; fear avoidance theory and acceptance and commitment therapy was used for pain management, using solution-focus group counseling strategies to guide group members to achieve pain management goals by accepting pain and establishing goals.The group effectiveness was assessed before and after the group intervention in terms of pain intensity (0-10 numeric rating scale), brief pain inventory-pain inference, chronic pain self-efficacy scale, pain fear (0-10 numeric rating scale), depression (patient health questionnaire-9), demoralization (demoralization scale), post-traumatic growth inventory and life quality (WHOQOL-BREF). Then we analyzed the correlation between the difference values of the variables before and after the test in order to understand the clinical application of the pain management group therapy for patients with spinal cord injury.

Rehabilitation interventions such as physical training and neural stimulation after spinal cord injury (SCI) have been shown to increase neural plasticity. However, both physical training and neural stimulation require a large number of repetitions, and the retention of the intervention effects may be fleeting. In this proposal the investigators will test Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC), which has been shown to promote neural plasticity and has practical and theoretical advantages. RIC consists of transiently restricting blood flow to any 'remote' limb using a blood pressure cuff. This induces several of the body's systemic defensive reactions. RIC has been shown to improve motor learning. The investigators propose that RIC alters motor pathway excitability through a combination of systemic increases in plasticity-promoting factors and inhibition of inflammatory factors. The investigators have designed a clinical trial to test this hypothesis in 8 persons with SCI and 8 able-bodied controls. All participants will receive active/sham RIC plus a hand exercise. The investigators will measure effects on blood pressure, motor neuron excitability, and systemic inflammatory markers before and after RIC as well as after hand exercise. Starting July 2021, we will also enroll 5 individuals with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in this study.

Robotic devices may be used to help the gait and balance of individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). However, as such devices may allow individuals to engage in physical activity in an upright position, there may be significant benefit on the vascular health of patients with SCI. This study will assess the effect of a robotic-assisted gait-training (exoskeleton) program on central and peripheral hemodynamic markers in people with SCI.

The purpose of this study is to: Measure the pressure in the spinal fluid surrounding the spinal cord to find out how well the spinal cord is being supplied with blood. Determine how drugs called "vasopressors", which are used to control blood pressure following SCI (spinal cord injury), influence spinal fluid pressure. Characterize the severity of an SCI using the levels of specific proteins found within the spinal fluid. Predict how much neurologic recovery may be regained using the levels of specific proteins within your spinal fluid. Identify proteins within the spinal fluid that will help us learn more about what is happening after SCI and assist us in developing new treatments for SCI.

The current study will implement and evaluate a multi-component, psychoeducational intervention for caregivers of children with spinal cord injury (SCI) ages 7-12. Two hypotheses will be tested. First, caregivers who participate in the intervention group will demonstrate better outcomes than caregivers in the control group. Second, children with SCI whose caregivers participate in the intervention group will demonstrate better outcomes than children with SCI whose caregivers participate in the control group.

In this study, 6 volunteer participants with chronic spinal cord injury will be invited to use an autonomous hand exoskeleton device controlled by a brain/neural-computer interaction (BNCI) system fusing electroencephalography (EEG) and electrooculography (EOG) to detect the intention of the user to grasp objects of daily life. The BNCI system consists of a lightweight hand exoskeleton connected to portable motors, rechargeable batteries and a computerized control system integrated into a wheelchair. Before, during and after use of the BNCI system the volunteers will perform standardized assessments and complete questionnaires to assess the functional and psychological effects of the exoskeleton. Functional outcomes primarily focus on motor function in performing daily life actions while psychological outcomes primarily focus on safety, reliability as well as predisposition and perceptions of disability.

ReWalk suit developed by Argo Medical Technologies is designed to enable people with lower limb disabilities to carry out routine ambulatory functions (stand, walk etc.); it can be used by people with disabilities such as spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and other pathologies that produce severe walking impairments.