Spinal Neurorehabilitation for Veterans With SCI

Chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a debilitating disorder in Veterans and the broader U.S. population that does not have a cure. Veterans with severe SCI demonstrate permanent loss of sensory and motor function below their injury resulting in decreased quality of life and independence. Recently, electrical spinal neuromodulation has emerged as a potential approach to restore voluntary motor function and locomotion in persons with chronic SCI. However, spinal neuromodulation has yet to translate to clinical use due to small sample sizes in research studies and a lack of information on which patients would benefit. Here, the investigators propose a novel approach to evaluate the priorities and barriers faced by Veterans with SCI to use spinal neuromodulation, understand the neural connections remaining in Veterans with severe SCI, and determine potential functional improvements using non-invasive spinal neuromodulation technology. This research represents the first step towards deploying techniques that could dramatically improve function and quality of life for Veterans with SCI.

NCT Number	NCT07222046
Lead Sponsor	VA Office of Research and Development
Conditions	Spinal Cord Injuries
Enrollment	40 participants
Start Date	2026-09-01
Primary Completion	2031-06-30 (estimated)
Study Completion	2031-06-30 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-07-17