Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitation
-
Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil · Jan 2017
Overground Locomotor Training in Spinal Cord Injury: A Performance-Based Framework.
Background: Locomotor training (LT) is the most commonly used treatment to improve walking performance following spinal cord injury (SCI). The advancement of LT treatments requires the addition of integrative models accounting for the numerous systems responsible for the recovery of walking function following SCI. Objective: This perspective monograph aims to (a) describe a performance-based framework for overground LT (OLT), (b) describe principles of adaptation and motor learning used to inform OLT program design, and (c) present an example OLT program based on the proposed framework. ⋯ Results: Preliminary findings demonstrate the potential of OLT, as describe here, to increase overground walking speed, improve walking economy, accelerate processes associated with oxygen delivery and utilization at the rest-to-work transition, and lower oxygen extraction requirements of skeletal muscle during walking in individuals with chronic motor-incomplete SCI. Conclusion: The proposed framework offers a valuable template for LT program design in both clinical and research settings. Further research is necessary to better understand the effects of OLT and how principles of specificity, progressive overload, and variation within the performance-based framework can be manipulated to maximize function, health, and quality of life in SCI.