title: Maintenance of cutaneomuscular neuronal excitability after leg-cycling predicts lower limb muscle strength after incomplete spinal cord injury.
abstract: Controlled leg-cycling modulates H-reflex activity after spinal cord injury (SCI). Preserved cutaneomuscular reflex activity is also essential for recovery of residual motor function after SCI. Here the effect of a single leg-cycling session was assessed on cutaneomuscular-conditioned H-reflex excitability in relation to residual lower limb muscle function after incomplete SCI (iSCI).
  
  
  
  Modulation of Soleus H-reflex activity was evaluated following ipsilateral plantar electrical stimulation applied at 25-100ms inter-stimulus intervals (ISI's), before and after leg-cycling in ten healthy individuals and nine subjects with iSCI.
  
  
  
  Leg-cycling in healthy subjects increased cutaneomuscular-conditioned H-reflex excitability between 25 and 75ms ISI (p<0.001), compared to a small loss of excitability at 75ms ISI after iSCI (p<0.05). In addition, change in cutaneomuscular-conditioned H-reflex excitability at 50ms and 75ms ISI in subjects with iSCI after leg-cycling predicted lower ankle joint hypertonia and higher Triceps Surae muscle strength, respectively.
  
  
  
  Leg-cycling modulates cutaneomuscular-conditioned spinal neuronal excitability in healthy subjects and individuals with iSCI, and is related to residual lower limb muscle function.
  
  
  
  Cutaneomuscular-conditioned H reflex modulation could be used as a surrogate biomarker of both central neuroplasticity and lower limb muscle function, and could benchmark lower-limb rehabilitation programs in subjects with iSCI.
authors.affiliation: Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute, CSIC, Madrid 28002, Spain. Electronic address: to.stefano.piazza@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piazza
authors.affiliation: Sensorimotor Function Group, Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Toledo 45072, Spain; Toledo Physiotherapy Research Group (GIFTO), Nursing and Physiotherapy School, Castilla La Mancha University, Toledo 45072, Spain. Electronic address: julio.soriano@uclm.es.
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gómez-Soriano
authors.affiliation: Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute, CSIC, Madrid 28002, Spain; Sensorimotor Function Group, Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Toledo 45072, Spain; iPhysio Research Group, San Jorge University Zaragoza, Spain. Electronic address: eli88_b26@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bravo-Esteban
authors.affiliation: Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute, CSIC, Madrid 28002, Spain. Electronic address: diego.torricelli@csic.es.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Torricelli
authors.affiliation: Sensorimotor Function Group, Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Toledo 45072, Spain. Electronic address: gavila@sescam.jccm.es.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Avila-Martin
authors.affiliation: Sensorimotor Function Group, Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Toledo 45072, Spain. Electronic address: igalan@jccm.es.
authors.forename: Iriana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Galan-Arriero
authors.affiliation: Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute, CSIC, Madrid 28002, Spain. Electronic address: jose.pons@csic.es.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.affiliation: Sensorimotor Function Group, Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Toledo 45072, Spain; Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research, National Spinal Injuries Centre, Aylesbury HP218AL, UK; Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TD, UK. Electronic address: jscott@sescam.org.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006181:H-Reflex; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053580:Muscle Strength; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation
keywords: Ankle joint hypertonia; Cutaneomuscular-conditioned H-reflex activity; Leg-cycling; SCI spasticity syndrome; Spinal cord injury; Triceps Surae manual muscle score