Movement Recovery Lab Published in Current Opinion in Neurology
Brain and spinal pathways for pain relief and movement recovery may share common mechanisms
In a review published in Current Opinion in Neurology, the Movement Recovery Lab’s Jason B. Carmel, MD, PhD, together with Evan Joiner, MD and colleagues reexamines the long-standing view that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for pain and for movement recovery work through separate neural pathways.
Traditionally, SCS for pain was thought to work by blocking pain signals traveling up the spine. In contrast, SCS used to help people move again after injury was believed to activate a different set of nerves. The new study shows these two methods may actually affect many of the same nerve pathways.
By studying different spinal cord stimulation devices and how they’re used, the researchers found that treatments for pain and for movement often activate many of the same nerve pathways. This means the same parts of the spinal cord may help control both pain and movement.
The review calls for a unified mechanistic framework for SCS that integrates insights from both pain management and motor rehabilitation. Such an approach could inform new treatment strategies for patients facing coexisting pain and motor dysfunction, while encouraging greater collaboration between fields that have historically operated separately.
References
Overlapping mechanisms of epidural spinal cord stimulation for pain control and movement recovery
Joiner, Evan F., Bikson, Marom, Carmel, Jason B.
DOI: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000001433
