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tESCS for Upper Limb Rehab in Spinal Cord Injury

NCT07208188 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: EARLY_PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2025-10-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Regaining hand and arm function is an important step towards regaining independence following high-level spinal cord injury (tetraplegia). The delivery of small electrical pulses over the skin above the spinal cord, called transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tESCS), appears to improve the arm and hand function of people who have had tetraplegia for several years when delivered at the same time as upper limb therapy. However, tESCS has not been tested in people who have a new spinal cord injury. It should be straightforward to deliver tESCS during standard upper limb therapy sessions to inpatients receiving primary rehabilitation. The investigators want to test the practical aspects of delivering this intervention and also to compare recovery between a group of people who only receive upper limb therapy and a group who receive upper limb therapy and tESCS. If successful, tESCS could in the future be used as part of regular therapy following an acute spinal cord injury. Benefits could include faster and better recovery, reduced stay in hospital, and reduced NHS costs.

Conditions

  • Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)

Interventions

DEVICE

Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tESCS) active group

Participants in the active arm will receive 60 min of tESCS alongside the conventional occupation therapy, 20 sessions for 4 weeks, 5 times per week

DEVICE

Sham transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tESCS)

The control group will receive only 1 min of tESCS while doing conventional occupational therapy for 60 min. Number of session 20, 4 weeks, 5 times a week

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Glasgow

    collaborator OTHER

  • The Queen Elizabeth Hospital

    collaborator OTHER

  • NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Aleksandra Vuckovic University O VUCKOVIC, PhD Biomed Eng · School of Engineering, University of Glasgow

  • Mariel A Purcell, MB CHB BAO · NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-11-30
Primary Completion
2027-10-31
Completion
2027-12-31

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07208188 on ClinicalTrials.gov