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Browsing Academic Departments by Author "Eick, John"

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    Cortical activation during visual illusory walking in persons with spinal cord injury: a pilot study
    (Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2015-04) Eick, John; Richardson, Elizabeth J.
    Objective—To determine the location of cortical activation during a visual illusion walking paradigm, a recently proposed treatment for spinal cord injury (SCI)-related neuropathic pain, in persons with SCI compared to able-bodied controls. Design—Pilot experimental fMRI trial. Setting—Outpatient rehabilitation clinic. Participants—Three persons with paraplegia and five able bodied participants were included in this study. Interventions—Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures—Cortical activation as measured by blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) method of fMRI. Results—During visually illusory walking, there was significant activation in the somatosensory cortex among those with SCI. In contrast, able-bodied participants showed little to no significant activation in this area, but rather, in the frontal and pre-motor areas. Conclusions—Treatment modalities for SCI-related neuropathic pain that are based on sensory input paradigms such as virtual or visual illusory walking may work by targeting somatosensory cortex, an area that has been previously found to functionally reorganize following SCI.