Brain motor control assessment of upper limb function in patients with spinal cord injury

This study evaluates a new method called the Brain Motor Control Assessment (BMCA) to better understand upper limb motor function in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). The BMCA uses surface electromyography (sEMG) to measure motor output from the central nervous system during reflex and voluntary tasks. Nine participants with SCI were assessed four times over a year using the BMCA protocol, which includes relaxation, reinforcement maneuvers, voluntary tasks, tendon-tap reflex responses, and vibration responses. The goal was to see if the pattern of voluntary movements in patients with SCI could be improved over time, and whether this improvement could be evaluated with the BMCA protocol. The BMCA could help clinicians assess motor control abilities in SCI patients and monitor their progress during rehabilitation. The results of the neurophysiological assessment might be useful to tailor therapeutic strategies for each patient.

• 1
  Participants with SCI showed significantly lower Similarity Index (SI) values for certain unilateral movements compared to neurologically intact participants, indicating impaired motor control. Specifically, this included unilateral shoulder abduction and adduction, elbow extension, and wrist flexion/extension with palm up and wrist flexion with palm down.
• 2
  sEMG magnitudes were significantly lower in the SCI group compared to the neurologically intact group for wrist flexion/extension with palm up.
• 3
  The study found significant changes over time in SI values for tasks related to the wrist joint, suggesting potential improvements in wrist motor control during the study period.