Neuronal Plasticity After Spinal Cord Injury: Significance for Present and Future Treatments

Abstract

Summary: Recent progress in the understanding of movement control allows us to define more precisely the requirements for successful rehabilitation of patients with neurologic deficits after a spinal cord injury (SCI). Load- and hip joint position-related afferent input seems to be of crucial importance for the generation and success of locomotor training. In addition, there is accumulating evidence from animal experiments that axonal regeneration can be induced after a SCI. Consequently, in the near future, new therapeutic approaches will be developed for the treatment of subjects with SCI. Functional training and regeneration represent complimentary approaches. Regenerating spinal tract fibers needs functional training to make the appropriate connections, and training effects will be enhanced by regenerating fibers. A clinical basis for monitoring the effects of novel interventional therapies is needed. Refined and combined clinical and neurophysiologic measures are needed for a precise qualitative and quantitative assessment of spinal cord function in patients with SCI at an early stage. This is a basic requirement for predicting functional outcome, as well as for recognizing any improvement in the recovery of function caused by a new treatment. To this aim, 14 European spinal cord injury centers involved in the rehabilitation of patients with acute SCI have built a close clinical collaboration using a standardized protocol for the assessment of the outcome after SCI and the extent of recovery achieved by actually applied therapies in a larger population of patients with SCI.