First steps

The spinal cord has circuits that can generate basic functions such as locomotion even after an accident or degenerative disease creates a lesion. Dr. Rossignol and his team of researchers from the basic and clinical sciences at the University of Montreal, McGill University and Laval University are investigating whether sensory enhancements such as muscle reinforcement, tactile stimulation or visual virtual reality motivate people to work harder on treadmills.

The goal is to provide further evidence of the benefits of treadmill training in regaining some ability to walk after a spinal lesion and to determine what works best to encourage that recovery. Dr. Rossignol and his team hope to provide evidence to support the development of guidelines on how to provide training that achieves the best results. They are also using electrophysiology and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure changes in the nervous system before and after training to better understand the mechanisms involved in the regeneration of locomotion.

The implications are far reaching. "We're not talking about miracles here," says Dr. Rossignol. "But if you can improve someone's ability to walk from 0.2 metres per second to 0.5, it can mean the difference between being able to cross a street or not."