The excitability of thenar motoneurons (reflected by F-wave persistence and amplitude) and thenar muscle force were measured during a stimulation protocol (90 s of 18-Hz supramaximal electrical stimulation of the median nerve) designed to induce muscle fatigue (force decline). Data from muscles (n = 15) paralyzed by chronic cervical spinal cord injury were compared with those obtained from cont...

Spinal myoclonus is a rare movement disorder characterized by myoclonic involvement of a group of muscles supplied by a few contiguous segments of the spinal cord. Structural lesions are usually the cause, but in primary spinal myoclonus the etiology remains unknown. We present the case of a 26-year-old woman with cervical spinal myoclonus in which both clinical and electromyographic findings p...

Brain and spinal injury reduce mobility and often impair sensorimotor processing in the spinal cord leading to spasticity. Here, we establish that complete transection of corticospinal pathways in the pyramids impairs locomotion and leads to increased spasms and excessive mono- and polysynaptic low threshold spinal reflexes in rats. Treatment of affected forelimb muscles with an adeno-associate...

BACKGROUND Postural rehabilitation emphasizing on motor control training of segmental spinal movements has been proposed to effectively reduce the scoliotic spinal deformities in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). However, information regarding the impairments of segmental spinal movement control involving segmental spinal stabilizers in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis remains limited. Exam...

The temperature-induced paralysis of comatose (comt) mutants of Drosophila is suggestive of a function for N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion factor (NSF) in the CNS. Mutations in the para gene encoding the subunit of the voltage-gated sodium channel also result in a similar phenotype. We show that paralysis in comt flies is activity-dependent, and in the doubly mutant comt para flies comt-like ...

This work investigates the capacity of the spinal cord to generate locomotion after a complete spinal section and its ability to adapt its locomotor pattern after a peripheral nerve lesion. To study this intrinsic adaptive capacity, the left lateral gastrocnemius-soleus (LGS) nerve was sectioned in three cats that expressed a stable locomotion following a complete spinal transection. The electr...

Background: Aging often results in thoracic kyphosis and adverse postural changes. This may interfere with physiologic activity of paraspinal muscles. Few styles of spinal orthosis have been already used to reduce thoracic kyphosis. This paper describes the development of a novel orthosis, which is designed based on the anatomy of the back muscles. This novel orthosis may potentiate muscle acti...

Following a spinal cord injury, there are changes in resting stroke volume (SV) and its response to exercise. The purpose of the following study was to characterize resting left ventricular structure, function, and mechanics in Paralympic athletes with tetraplegia (TETRA) and paraplegia (PARA) in an attempt to understand whether the alterations in SV are attributable to inherent dysfunction in ...

introduction: effect of tripolar tens of vertebral column on slow and fast motoneurons (mns) activity of soleus muscle was previously investigated. in this study for better differentiation of the behavior of slow and fast mns, we exploited h-reflex recovery curve recording in two muscles of soleus and lateral gastrocnemius, respectively as the representatives of slow and fast muscles. methods: ...

OBJECTIVE To determine how the spinal accessory nerve and the trapezius branches of the cervical plexus contribute to the innervation of each of the 3 parts of the trapezius muscle. Special emphasis was placed on the nerve supply of the clinically most important descending part of the muscle. DESIGN Anatomical analysis of the distribution of the cervical plexus and spinal accessory nerve bran...