Exoskeletal-assisted walking combined with transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation to improve bone health in persons with spinal cord injury: study protocol for a prospective randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Persons with non-ambulatory spinal cord injury (SCI) undergo immediate unloading of the skeleton and, as a result, have marked loss of bone mineral density below the level of lesion that is directly associated with increased risk of long-bone fractures. There is a paucity of research that has successfully implemented rehabilitation and/or exercise training interventions to mitigate bone loss after acute SCI or reverse bone loss that has already occurred in chronic SCI. This paper describes a research protocol to compare the effect of exoskeletal-assisted walking (EAW) alone versus EAW plus transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (EAW+tSCS) on bone density, geometry and strength in a cohort of chronic SCI participants.

Methods and analysis

After meeting eligibilit

SUBMITTER: Cirnigliaro CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11409316 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature