Using Muscle Functional MRI to Study Spatial Muscle Activation Patterns in People With SCI

Several types of treatment and therapy have been shown to promote improvements in movement and other health gains in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Researchers use many different methods to measure these gains- for instance they measure their ability to stand and walk and use scanning technologies to measure bone loss and recovery. They also often use a technique known as electromyography (EMG), which detects electrical signals coming from muscles, to measure how well the muscles are being activated. While EMG has many advantages, it also has some important limitations. For instance, it is difficult to gather information from muscles below the surface, and the results can change significantly if the sensing electrodes are moved only slightly, making it harder to measure differences across different testing sessions. In this project, the investigators will use another technique to study muscle activations in people with SCI. This technique, known as muscle functional MRI (mfMRI), uses MRI scanning to measure the activation of muscles. One of the signals that MRI imaging uses has been found to change with exercise; this change is understood to be related to a buildup of chemicals in the water inside the muscle. MRI scanning has many variable settings, or parameters, that can be changed to pick up specific signals, and our team has developed a set of settings (also known as an MRI sequence) that is specially adapted to measure the mfMRI signal. Although other groups have used mfMRI to study muscle activation in other groups of people and other activities, the investigators do not believe there have been any previous studies in people with SCI. Participants in our study will lie on their back with their knee raised on a bolster and raise the lower part of their leg to straighten the knee, for several repetitions. They will do this in a room outside the MRI scanner, on a table that can be attached to the scanner for imaging. After they finish exercising, they will be moved into the MRI scan room for mfMRI scanning of the muscles of the thigh. The four muscles of the quadriceps that straighten the knee will be studied, with specialized data processing used to measure the overall activation of each of the muscles. The investigators will compare mfMRI values between people with SCI and a control group of able bodied people. These people will have motor incomplete SCI, meaning that they still have some ability to move their body in regions below the injury. By completing this study the investigators will provide new information on spatial muscle activation patterns, and they expect that this will lead the way to more widespread application of the technique in the future.

NCT Number	NCT07073313
Lead Sponsor	Kessler Foundation
Conditions	Spinal Cord Injury
Enrollment	10 participants
Start Date	2025-09-01
Primary Completion	2026-08-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-09-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-08-26