Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation to Restore Upper Extremity Function in Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal Stimulation and Physical Therapy for Locomotion
Brain Controlled Spinal Interface for Arm Function
Repair: We have observed that stimulation within the spinal cord below an injury leads to improved motor function even beyond the period of stimulation. In the uninjured central nervous system, synchronizing stimulation can be used to strengthen connections among neurons via mechanisms of Hebbian plasticity. We are investigating whether intraspinal stimulation, triggered by appropriate cortical activity, is capable of guiding spared pathways to functional targets after spinal cord injury.
“We develop neuroprosthetic technology for the treatment of paralysis and other movement disorders. Our current projects include developing techniques to bypass damaged areas of the nervous system & restore control of movement to paralyzed limbs, promoting recovery and perhaps regeneration of damaged neural tissue, and testing methods for physical therapy and rehabilitation of movement disorders.”
Samejima, S., Caskey, C.D., Inanici, F., Shrivastv, S., Brighton, L. N., Pradarelli, J., Martinez, V., Steele, K.M., Saigal, R., Moritz, C.T., (2022) Multisite transcutaneous spinal stimulation for walking and autonomic recovery in motor-incomplete tetraplegia: a case series. Physical Therapy 102 (1)
Soshi Samejima, Aiva M. Ievins, Adrien Boissenin, Nicholas M. Tolley, Abed Khorasani, Sarah E. Mondello, Chet T. Moritz. (2022) Automated Lever Task with Minimum Antigravity Movement for Rats with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 366, 109433, ISSN 0165-0270