This study will look at how mental imagery affects the brain’s movement centers. If and when spinal cord injury can be repaired, the ability of the brain (the master computer) to make things move will become important. This study looks at that part of the picture.
There are two main points.
The study will examine how mental practice affects the flow of signals down the spinal cord, and how the brain activates. Both will be measured before and after a one week course of motor imagery.
This study is looking at the effects of mental practice on something called motor evoked potentials, or MEPs. These are the electrical signals sent by your brain that tell your muscles to move. We’re going to ask you to mentally practice moving both your foot and your tongue in a specific manner for 7 days, twice a day. Each practice session will be 30 minutes long, so you’ll practice two hours a day total (½ hr for both tongue and foot in the morning, and ½ hr for both in the evening.) All of these practice sessions will be conducted in your own home, at your convenience. We will bring a computer to your home to help guide you through the practice sessions.
Now, of course we will want to measure your progress, so on the day before and the day after your practice sessions you will come to the University of California, Irvine. On both of these days you will have an MRI scan of your brain and have a TMS session. The MR scanner is a large magnet. You will lie on a bed and be moved into the magnet. Sometimes individuals feel claustrophobic as they are lying in the scanner. If this happens to you, just call out and you will be removed quickly. Because it is a large magnet, certain items cannot be taken into the scanner. For instance, pacemakers and any magnetic metals would not be safe to bring into the MR. The TMS is similar to the MR in that it is a magnet, but this magnet is much smaller and is held against your head. We will focus it to a particular area of your brain and activate it. This will send a signal to the neurons in that part of your brain to turn on. These signals may cause your leg muscles to twitch slightly. Neither of these techniques are painful or harmful to you.
During the MRI we will take a picture of your brain to help us perform the TMS, and we will also ask you to watch a video. During the TMS you will only have to try to sit as still as possible. You will be sitting in a chair and we will provide you with a chin rest and a head cushion.
Dr. Cramer will also administer some other minor tests such as a sensory test, leg muscle strength test, and a monitoring of leg muscle activity through the use of electrodes. These electrodes are like small stickers placed on your skin.
So to recap, the first day you will have the MRI and TMS. This is conducted at the UCI Campus. The next seven days you will be practicing in your home, once in the morning, once in the evening. On the day after your last practice session, you will come back to UCI for a final MRI and TMS session.