Operant Conditioning of the Soleus Stretch Reflex in Adults With Cerebral Palsy

Part of paid clinical trials in White Plains, New York.

Sponsor
Burke Medical Research Institute
Study ID
NCT05571033
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Spinal reflex conditioning — BEHAVIORAL
    Each participant will serve as their own control. The intervention is 30 sessions. The first 6 sessions are baseline measures of reflexes. The remaining sessions will engage participants in learning how to decrease their reflex activity in their calf muscle on the more-affected leg. Each intervention visit will involve 20 trials in which participants do not get visual feedback about their performance, then 225 trials with visual feedback.

Study Details

12 adults with spastic CP will complete 6 baseline sessions and 24 down conditioning sessions held 3 times/week. All clinical and physiological assessments collected at baseline will be reassessed after study completion, and follow ups after 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months. The soleus H reflex (electric analogue of the stretch reflex) will be elicited in all sessions. In each session, participants will complete 20 baseline trials and 225 down conditioning trials to decrease the magnitude of the H-Reflex.

Key Dates

Start date
Sep 30, 2022
Status verified
Sep 2023
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2025
Completion
Dec 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
12 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Spinal reflex conditioning
    The OC intervention includes 6 baseline sessions and 24 conditioning/ no conditioning sessions held 3 times/week. To elicit an H-reflex, participants will be asked to stand in a comfortable position. Small pulses of energy will be applied to a nerve in the leg called the tibial nerve. We will record when the participant maintains leg muscle activity. During the intervention, participants will be trained to decrease their reflex in their calf.

Primary Outcome Measure

Soleus H-Reflex size [ Time Frame: Within one week before first intervention session to within one week after the end of intervention ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Burke Neurological InstituteWhite PlainsNew York10605
Kathleen Friel, PhD
[email protected]
914-368-3116
Kathleen Friel, PhD (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)

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Burke Neurological Institute· White Plains, NY

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