I CAN! Research
Research and Education will be integrated into each of these clinical service delivery streams involving Queensland, Australian and overseas Centres of Excellence as well.
Education
Education will include courses and degrees for health professionals, disability workers, carers and families and patients. It will integrate with the training of medical and nursing students as well as graduate doctors, specialists in training and doctors and specialists in practice. As well as providing courses and degrees for allied health. ICAN! will establish the first College of Disability Medicine in the Southern Hemisphere.
Neuroplasticity of Spinal cord injury research
A pilot study to investigate the efficacy of transcutaneous electrical stimulation, pharmacological therapy, virtual reality and activity-based therapy as combination therapies in chronic spinal cord injury.
Inclusion criteria
- Motor complete SCI (ASIA A or B classification)
- Chronic SCI (> 2 years post injury)
- Age > 18
Research Protocol
The proposed devices for use in this study are those that are widely available retail devices accessible to any consumer. These are:
- Emotiv Epoc headset (EEG);
- Oculus Rift virtual reality headset (VR);
- MYO armband (tactile feedback);
- ReWalk Robotics ReWalk Personal 5.0 (late-stage exoskeleton locomotor training); and
- Digitimer DS7AH stimulator (transdermal stimulation).
Routine screening for physical and psychological risks; and counselling prior to, during and after treatment will be provided.
For one week before physical training at the Making Strides clinic (4/11-13 Dover Drive, Burleigh Heads, QLD, 4220), patients will commence buspirone (7.5mg twice daily orally, identical to Gerasimenko’s study [2015]). On week two patients, will begin locomotion training with transdermal stimulation and VR. Physical training will operate in 5 chronological stages through 12 months.
the stages
Stage 1
Patients will arrive at the training facility to have a virtual reality experience driven by electroencephalogram (EEG) in the seated position. The EEG will drive a VR avatar from a first person perspective whilst the patient wears a headset. The goal is to for the patient to think about walking and cause the avatar to walk, aimed to prime the motor cortex of the patient. After 90 minutes in VR, the patient will receive electrical stimulation over the skin on the lower spine while in the left decubitus position.
Stage 2
Replicates stage one with patient placed in suspended upright position.
Stage 3
Interventions will be the same as above instead patients will have body weight supported treadmill exoskeleton driven locomotor training.
Stage 4
If eventually the patient is able to support 25% or more of their body weight during treadmill locomotor training without knee collapse, over-ground locomotor training will commence.
Stage 5
Stage five will start if the patient is eventually able to support 50% of their body weight during over-ground locomotor training without knee collapse. This stage includes EEG-controlled exoskeleton locomotor training.
Research focus
Research will be a strong focus integrating the following streams into the clinical services:
NEUROPLASTICITY
Neuropharmacology and Neurotherapeutics
Neurodiagnostics and Rare Diseases
Neurogenetics
Genomics
Neuropsychiatry and Behavioural Neurology
Neuroimaging
