Effects of Single Noninvasive Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients with Post-Stroke Motor Disorders

Abstract

Post-stroke gait disorders are often characterized by abnormal kinematic and kinetic patterns, deviations in spatiotemporal features, altered muscle activation, and increased power requirements while walking. The investigation is aimed at determining the possibility of using transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TSCS) to influence the kinematics of walking in stroke patients with hemiparesis in the early and late recovery periods (1–12 months) after stroke. Continuous and phasic stimulation was used during motor training on a treadmill. For stimulation of spinal neuroprosthesis including a multichannel stimulator for TSCS (Cosyma, Russia) with sensors for determining the phases of walking was used. The biomechanical study of the walking function was carried out with the Steadys system (Neurosoft, Russia). The study involved 15 patients (ages from 33 to 79 years). We analyzed the parameters of stepping movements when walking on the floor without stimulation before and after training on a treadmill using TSCS. A comparative analysis of the kinematics of walking before and after training showed an increase in walking speed, the length of the step cycle, and an increase in the range of movements in the hip, knee, and ankle joints, in 40% patients the height of the paretic foot lift increased by 1–2 cm. The results show that the training with the use of TSCS can be considered as a rehabilitation method for correcting walking after a stroke.