Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the functional effects of early and delayed interventions involving walking exercises with treadmills, using animal subjects. Contusive spinal cord injury (SCI) was made at the Th10 level in adult Sprague–Dawley rats, which were then assigned to one of the following conditions: control, early training (days 7 to 20), and delayed training (days 21 to 34). A significant increase in step height and step length was observed in the early-training group, while the delayed-training group showed no significant improvement. In addition, a reduction in synergic contraction was observed in electromyographic activity of the hind limb muscles, as well as a reduction in spastic muscle activities, but this was observed only in the early-training group. Immunohistochemical analysis of the lumbar spinal cord using synaptic markers showed a significant decrease in the inhibitory synapses and an increase in the excitatory synapses which were caused by an earlier start to training. Further studies are necessary to determine underlying mechanisms involved the above process.
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