Foundation recipients in the news.

Richard K Shields, PT, PhD, and Shauna Dudley-Javoroski, PT, MPT, recently wrote 3 articles based on findings from their current study, "Musculoskeletal Plasticity After Spinal Cord Injury." The study was funded by NCMRR and the Christopher Reeve and Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundations. Shields is a Foundation Trustee, former Chair of the Foundation's Scientific Review Committee, and a 1987 recipient of a Foundation doctoral student support grant. Dudley-Javoroski is a 2003 McMillan scholarship recipient and a 2005 PODS I scholarship recipient.

The 3 articles are: "Musculoskeletal Plasticity After Acute Spinal Cord Injury: Effects of Long-Term Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Training," in the Journal of Neurophysiology (2006;95:2380-2390); "Electrically-Induced Muscle Contractions Influence Bone Density Decline After Spinal Cord Injury," in Spine (2006;31:548-553); and "Post-Fatigue Potentiation of the Paralyzed Soleus Muscle: Evidence for Adaptation With Long-Term Electrical Stimulation Training," in the Journal of Applied Physiology (in press, doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00099.2006).

In the study, investigators used electrical stimulation of the soleus muscle to minimize muscle and bone deterioration after spinal cord injury. Each subject trained one leg for 3 years using a home-based stimulator and data-logging unit, which helped the subjects adhere to the training protocol (>80%). At the end of the study, trained limbs generated more torque and had less fatigue than untrained limbs. Trained soleus muscles demonstrated little post-fatigue potentiation of torque, suggesting that training may affect the muscle's excitation-contraction coupling mechanism. Most important, trabecular bone mineral density was 31% higher in the trained limbs (distal tibia); no previous longitudinal study has demonstrated a bone-sparing effect of this magnitude. Bone loss also was minimized in sites that experienced mechanical loading (the trained proximal tibia) but not at sites that experienced no loading (hips, spine, untrained proximal tibia). The investigators highlight the potential benefits of reintroducing physiologic loads to the paralyzed musculoskeletal system, and call for further investigation of this promising approach.