Can paired brain and nerve stimulation strengthen movement pathways after spinal cord injury?
NCT ID NCT07814313
First seen Sep 10, 2026 · Last updated Sep 11, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Researchers are studying how aging and spinal cord injury affect two nerve pathways that help control leg movement: the corticospinal and reticulospinal tracts. The trial enrolls adults with chronic spinal cord injury and healthy controls. Participants receive transcranial magnetic stimulation paired with peripheral nerve stimulation, or a sham version, while researchers measure muscle responses and reaction times. The goal is to learn whether these pathways respond differently to stimulation and whether spinal cord injury affects one pathway more than the other.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- paired stimulation, which delivers transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation at nearly the same time
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could point toward stimulation-based rehabilitation that helps people with spinal cord injury regain leg movement.
- What could go wrong
- The study measures nerve signals and muscle responses, not walking ability, so any benefit to real-world movement is uncertain. Results in a controlled lab setting may not translate to daily life.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Participants
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About 300 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Aug 2025
- Expected to finish
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Sep 2031
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
Who is studied
Vulnerable populations, including children (\<18 years) and pregnant women, will be excluded from this study.
- Ages
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19 to 85 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Male and females between 19-85 years; * Chronic SCI (≥ 1 years post-injury); * T10 or above - American Spinal Injury Association (AIS) Grade C, or D; * Ability to perform a small voluntary ankle dorsiflexion, knee extension, and ankle plantarflexion (as detected by presence of voluntary EMG activity in the rectus femoris, tibialis anterior, and soleus muscles) with at least one leg; * Ability to tolerate standing position; * Ability to initiate at least one step without the assistance of a therapist; * If ambulatory, ability to walk at a minimum speed of 0.1 m/s on a treadmill. Inclusion criteria for controls: * Male and females (19-85 years); * Able to perform dorsiflexion; * Able to walk. Exclusion Criteria: * Uncontrolled medical problems including pulmonary, cardiovascular, or orthopedic disease; * Any debilitating disease before the SCI that caused exercise intolerance; * Premorbid, ongoing major depression or psychosis, altered cognitive status; * History of head injury or stroke; * Pacemaker; * Metal plate in skull; * History of seizures; * Receiving drugs acting primarily on the central nervous system, which lower the seizure threshold, such as antipsychotic drugs (chlorpromazine, clozapine) or tricyclic antidepressants; * Pregnancy; * Ongoing cord compression or a syrinx in the spinal cord or spinal cord disease, such as spinal stenosis, spina bifida or herniated cervical disk; * implanted defibrillators or implanted neurostimulators; * have large ischaemic scars; * diagnosed sleep deprivation. Exclusion criteria for controls: \- Same as for subjects with SCI.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Shirley Ryan Abilitylab
RECRUITINGChicago, Illinois, 60611, United States
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