Can Vibration Stimulation of the Foot Sole Activate Leg Muscles?

Plantar Cutaneous Stimulation Used to Elicit Muscle Activity in Individuals With Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

Participants will be asked to complete three different tests (standing, stepping and assisted walking) and will experience three different experimental conditions during each test. The three conditions are types of vibratory plantar cutaneous stimulation, which include no vibratory stimulation, submaximal vibratory stimulation and supramaximal vibratory stimulation. In the first condition, participants will experience no stimulation applied to any part of the body. In the second condition, a submaximal vibratory stimulus will be delivered at 90% of the participant's threshold to the surface of the foot. In the third condition, a supramaximal vibratory stimulus will be delivered at three times the participant's threshold. The hypothesis is that this plantar stimulation (90% threshold and supramaximal) will elicit increased muscle activity during these tests. If the hypothesis is positive then this protocol will also be presented in incomplete spinal cord injuried participants.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Spinal Cord Injury
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: plantar vibration

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 8
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3C5
      • Biomechanics Lab, Wilfrid Laurier University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• no spinal cord injury

Exclusion Criteria:

• any musculoskeletal or neurological disease that affects movement or balance

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: spinal cord injury; Individuals who have sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury	Other: plantar vibration
Active Comparator: non-spinal cord injury; Individuals who have not sustained a spinal cord injury	Other: plantar vibration

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Muscle activity	Muscle activity will be measured by electromyography equipment (two electrodes placed on the muscle belly) and then the outcome measures will be the description of both the timing (relative to task onset) and magintude of muscle activity.	up to 2 months after experiment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wilfrid Laurier University
• Investigators: Study Director: Stephen D Perry, PhD, Wilfrid Laurier University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: January 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 25, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 20, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): January 23, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): March 6, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 5, 2015
• Last Verified: March 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Wounds and Injuries; Trauma, Nervous System; Spinal Cord Diseases; Spinal Cord Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: MC_SCIPS