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Spinal Cord Stimulation for Functional Recovery in Humans With Tetraplegia

VA Office of Research and Development · NCT05157282

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 18–70 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Not applicable
Target enrollment
86
US sites recruiting
2
Study start
January 25, 2023
Record last updated
January 16, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

In support of the long-term goal of developing new strategies to increase limb function after SCI, the objectives of this proposal are to: 1) Examine the behavioral and physiological effects of TESS on upper-limb muscles after cervical SCI; and 2) Maximize the recovery of reaching and grasping potential by using tailored TESS in a task-specific manner with motor training. Veterans with cervical spinal injuries and healthy volunteers will be recruited for this study.

Being studied: TESS; Training; Motor Task; sham-TESS

Conditions: Spinal Cord Injury

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Inclusion criteria for SCI

  • Male and female Veterans between 18-70 years
  • Chronic SCI (1 year of injury)
  • Cervical injury at C8 or above - damage between cervical spinal segments will be confirmed using MRI [preliminary data (Benavides et al., 2020) and analysis of MRIs in \~100 participants with cervical SCI confirm that the investigators can meet our recruitment goals. Note that most SCI in humans damage several spinal cord segments
  • Verification of damage to cervical spinal segments will ensure that TESS electrodes will target the injured spinal cord (Benavides et al., 2020)
  • Intact or impaired, but not absent, innervations in dermatomes C6, C7 and C8 during light touch and pin prick stimulus using the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) sensory scores as tested before in our studies (Bunday and Perez, 2012; Bunday et al., 2018; Benavides et al., 2020; Jo and Perez, 2020)
  • Able to produce a visible power grip with one hand
  • Can score a minimum of two (2) in the cylindrical grasp the "Prehension Ability" GRASSP
  • This criterion was selected to ensure that hand impairment will not interfere with the ability to perform training and the proposed tests

Inclusion criteria for controls

  • Males and females (18-70 years)
  • Right-handed
  • Able to complete grasping

Exclusion Criteria

Exclusion criteria for SCI and control subjects:

  • Uncontrolled medical problems including pulmonary, cardiovascular or orthopedic disease
  • Any debilitating disease prior to the SCI that caused exercise intolerance
  • Premorbid, ongoing major depression or psychosis, altered cognitive status
  • History of head injury or concussion, skull fractures (or any skull deficit), unexplained headaches in the last 6 months, or stroke
  • Pacemaker
  • Metal plate in skull
  • History of seizures
  • Receiving drugs acting primarily on the central nervous system, which lower the seizure threshold, such as antipsychotic drugs (chlorpromazine, clozapine) or tricyclic antidepressants
  • Pregnant females
  • Ongoing cord compression, or a syrinx in the spinal cord, or one who suffers from a spinal cord disease such as spinal stenosis, spina bifida, or herniated cervical disk

Recruiting US locations

  • Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

    Chicago, IL 60611

    Site contact: Monica A Perez, PhD · 312-238-2886 · mperez04@sralab.org

  • Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL

    Hines, IL 60141-3030

    Site contact: Bing Chen, PhD MD MEd · (312) 238-7895 · bing.chen@va.gov

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Monica A Perez, PhD · (312) 238-2886 · mperez04@sralab.org
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Spinal Cord Stimulation for Functional Recovery in Humans With… (NCT05157282) | Bored Studies