Lydon 1

Megan Lydon

Data Collection

The data collection method that was used for this project was meta analysis. The purpose

of the project is to find the best treatment method for patients suffering from a spinal cord injury,

so the researcher did not have the resources to conduct a clinical trial or experiment on paralyzed

patients to collect the data, therefore, the only method plausible is meta analysis. Other methods

would not have been beneficial to the researcher because a survey is looking for opinions and she

was not interested in the opinions of the patients, but looking for statistical data to support her

argument of which treatment method results in the most improvement in motor function to spinal

cord injury patients. Through meta analysis, the researcher is able to look through professional

papers to determine, through statistics, which treatment method for paralyzed patients would

give them more motor function.

One treatment method, surgical neurostimulation, offers promising improvement to motor

and autonomic function in the future, but currently, the outcomes are unclear and not tested in

many humans. Rehabilitation is offered to patients which is another treatment option; however,

this mainly provides patients with different daily life assistance, such as transportation devices,

with a focus on the improvement of the emotional state of the patient. Rehabilitation attempts to

help the patient cope with the new life that they are given and maintain their internal functions;

this treatment option provides the least improvement to motor function in patients. Occupational

therapy is a method that has positive impacts on the sensory functions and the strength of the

patients improve as well; however, no specific exercises were explored to find which best

restores motor function to patients.

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The method that shows the most promise to improving motor function for spinal cord

injury patients is the locomotion therapy training plans that utilize treadmills with body weight

support and orthosis to retrain the body to move in a step-like motion. This treatment method

leads to hope for future progress that electrical stimulations and daily locomotor treadmill

training could lead to motor function being restored in human patients with complete spinal cord

injuries. The electrical stimulation was to mimic the step-like movement that is present in the

infant stages of a persons life to help get the muscles of the patient working from its own muscle

memory. The locomotor training of the body weight supported treadmill helps the patient relearn

how to walk; these two methods combined result in a positive increase in the function of the

patient and their ability to walk on their own as well as their overall health. The most surprising

result was that locomotion therapy was successful for complete spinal cord injuries in non-

human patients. Finding function in a patient that should have no motor function ability is

significant because of the different neurons and sensors that were needed to be triggered as well

as muscle memory to find mobility in these patients.

The research question for this project is what treatment methods restore the most motor

function in patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries? The data collected shows that the

combination of electrical stimulation and intense training to reteach stepping movements

provides patients with the most benefit in motor function. This data answers the research

question and ranks the different treatment options based on their level of improvement. Most

research on the treatment methods for paralysis are hopeful for technological advancements, so

with those improvements, the stimulations of the step-like movements could be altered to

replicate the involuntary movements that occur at birth. Also, the most beneficial treatment

method for incomplete spinal cord injuries could be translated through improvements of
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technology to help restore motor function to patients with complete spinal cord injury and no

sensation to their paralyzed region. From the results, the researcher can identify which treatment

methods are superior to others and how each treatment method, in their own way, benefits the

patients.

Type of Treatment Method Experiment(How each method is Results Effectiveness

conducted) Scale(1 being the
worst-10 being the
best) on improve
motor skills

Locomotor Training Therapy Four week trial In one study with three 8
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Used the treadmill holding the body patients, all were able Has the most
pmc/articles/PMC4085228/ weight three times a week to have almost doubled potential to get
20 minute walking interval their initial lower patients able to walk
extremity motor scores, again and for
https://jneuroengrehab.biome showing great patients with
dcentral.com/articles/10.1186/ improvement in their complete SCI, in just
1743-0003-10-5 ability to relearn four weeks, patients
walking (Lower are able to have in
http://www.newmobility.com/2 Extremity Motor improvement in their
014/03/high-costs-walking/ Score[LEMS] for the motor functions(in
first patient went from the lower portion of
19 to 32, LEMS for the their body) which
second patient went gives them the best
from 17 to 30 , LEMS chance at walking
for the third patient again
went from 17 to 28)

Rehabilitation/Physiotherapy Watching and analyzing patients to Ex. May move a patient 3

http://www.sciencedirect.com/
science/article/pii/S18369553
15001307
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pmc/articles/PMC4303793/
find underlying problems, goal
setting, use of standardised
assessments of impairments,
from a wheelchair to a Able to mobilize the
bed, all treatments patients but there is
based on evidence no improvement in
from the patient, like if their motor ability,
they struggles just strengthening
transferring from the the parts of the body
bed to the wheelchair that were not
Treat pain and affected by the injury
respiratory problems
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Electrical Neurostimulation Includes deep brain stimulation, Pain management was 5

http://www.mdpi.com/2076-
3425/7/2/18/htm
cerebral cortical stimulation, and improved as well as This method
spinal cord stimulation autonomic provided methods to
Brain machine interfaces tapping functions(recovery in improve autonomic
neuronal firing in neocortex that bladder, bowel, and functions which could
represents motor commands. sexual function) have an impact on
The urinary functions their motor function;
improved when the however, the
stimulation was relationship between
switched on to train the autonomic and motor
brain to fill rather than function was not
void explored.

Occupational Therapy Grouped the patients based on their Worked mainly on 4

ASIA(American Spinal Injury trying to complete daily This method does
Association Impairment Scale) activities such as not explore training
classifications dressing, bathing, the patients to walk
Focused on mobility of patients(ex. wheelchairs, etc. or relearn to walk,
From wheelchair to bed) More on improving the just focused on
Each group had a different amount lives of the patients, helping them
of total time spent in the therapy and rather than improving strengthen the parts
for each exercise motor function to of their body that
600 patients in this project eventually walk again they would need to
Mean of 407 minutes each week use more to adjust to
their new life. They
are still moving their
body, just without
focus on improving
motor skills in their
injured area.

Links to the Sources

https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-0003-10-5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4303793/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3522895/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3032846/
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/7/2/18/htm

All of the hard sources with my hand annotations are turned in as hard copies.