Pilot study on the combination of robotic gait training with stimulation of the withdrawal reflex in patients with spinal cord injury

Abstract:We present the preliminary results of a pilot study on the safety, tolerance and immediate effects of combining robotic gait training with stimulation of the no-ciceptive withdrawal reflex in spinal cord injury patients. Two patients with spinal cord injury completed 8 days of the proposed therapy. No adverse effects were observed, the stimulation was well tolerated by the patients and it did not interfere with the robotic therapy. Although some statistical differences between treatment blocks with and without stimulation were obtained for the two patients, the results do not allow to conclude on the effects of the proposed therapy. Along with gathering data from more patients, we plan to investigate the immediate effects of the stimulation along gait cycles, as well as the effects of the stimulation across days of treatment.