Overground Locomotor Training in Spinal Cord Injury: A Performance-Based Framework

Abstract

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. Methods: Individuals with chronic motor-incomplete SCI (7 male, 1 female) classified according to the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) as C and D were included. OLT included two 90-minute sessions performed over 12 weeks for a total of 24 sessions. Outcomes measures included overground walking speed, walking economy, pulmonary oxygen uptake, and muscle oxygen extraction measured via near-infrared spectroscopy. 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.

Keywords: exercise; locomotion; rehabilitation; spinal cord injuries.

Figure 1.

Newell's model of interacting constraints adapted to illustrate the resulting effects on variability of physical performance. We have further adapted the model to describe a performance-based framework and the potential impact of overground locomotor training (OLT) following spinal cord injury (SCI) on both constraints and performance. Adapted with permission from Davids K, Glazier P, Araújo D, Bartlett R. Movement systems as dynamical systems: The functional role of variability and its implications for sports medicine. Sports Med Auckl NZ. 2003;33(4):245–260. Copyright © 2003 Springer.