ReviewThe Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry2015
Restoring walking after spinal cord injury: operant conditioning of spinal reflexes can help.
Review in The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04807764 (Priming With High-Frequency Trans-spinal Stimulation to Augment Locomotor Benefits in Spinal Cord Injury), which is not on this map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Priming With High-Frequency Trans-spinal Stimulation to Augment Locomotor Benefits in Spinal Cord Injury
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Assessing sensorimotor excitability after spinal cord injury: a reflex testing method based on cycling with afferent stimulation.Medical & biological engineering & computing · 2018Trial
- Spinal cord stimulation modulates post-synaptic inhibition to improve arm neuromotor control after chronic stroke.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Spinal Reflexes and Spastic Movement Disorders.Physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North America · 2026Review
- Operant Conditioning of the Motor Evoked Potential in Forearm Extensors of Individuals with Chronic Incomplete Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Case Studies.Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Augmented feedback as a therapeutic approach for gait rehabilitation in patients with cerebral palsy: a systematic review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Review
- Spinal cord stimulation modulates post-synaptic inhibition improving neuromotor control of arm movement in people with chronic hemiparesis post-stroke.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Review
- Spinal nociceptive and non-nociceptive processing of cutaneous afferent input in people with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Adaptive gait responses to varying weight-bearing conditions: Inferences from gait dynamics and H-reflex magnitude.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- A single sequence of intermittent hypoxia does not alter stretch reflex excitability in able-bodied individuals.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Locomotor-respiratory coupling in ambulatory adults with incomplete spinal cord injury.Spinal cord series and cases · 2022Observational
- Soleus H-reflex modulation during a double-legged drop landing task.Experimental brain research · 2022Article
- Operant down-conditioning of the soleus H-reflex in people after stroke.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2022Article
- Soleus H and Lower Limb Posterior Root Muscle Reflexes During Stepping After Incomplete SCI.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2022Article
- Targeting neuroplasticity to improve motor recovery after stroke: an artificial neural network model.Brain communications · 2022Article
- How Does the Central Nervous System for Posture and Locomotion Cope With Damage-Induced Neural Asymmetry?Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2022Review
- Control of Mammalian Locomotion by Somatosensory Feedback.Comprehensive Physiology · 2021Article
- Is the Focal Muscle Vibration an Effective Motor Conditioning Intervention? A Systematic Review.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2021Review
- Temporal Profile of Descending Cortical Modulation of Spinal Excitability: Group and Individual-Specific Effects.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
People with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) frequently suffer motor disabilities due to spasticity and poor muscle control, even after conventional therapy. Abnormal spinal reflex activity often contributes to these problems. Operant conditioning of spinal reflexes, which can target plasticity to specific reflex pathways, can enhance recovery. In rats in which a right lateral column lesion had weakened right stance and produced an asymmetrical gait, up-conditioning of the right soleus H-reflex, which increased muscle spindle afferent excitation of soleus, strengthened right stance and eliminated the asymmetry. In people with hyperreflexia due to incomplete SCI, down-conditioning of the soleus H-reflex improved walking speed and symmetry. Furthermore, modulation of electromyographic activity during walking improved bilaterally, indicating that a protocol that targets plasticity to a specific pathway can trigger widespread plasticity that improves recovery far beyond that attributable to the change in the targeted pathway. These improvements were apparent to people in their daily lives. They reported walking faster and farther, and noted less spasticity and better balance. Operant conditioning protocols could be developed to modify other spinal reflexes or corticospinal connections; and could be combined with other therapies to enhance recovery in people with SCI or other neuromuscular disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.