Soleus H and Lower Limb Posterior Root Muscle Reflexes During Stepping After Incomplete SCI.
Keith E Tansey, Bradley J Farrell, Joy A Bruce and 1 others
PMID 36188913WHAT IT FOUND
After spinal cord injury, soleus reflexes remain larger and modulate less during stepping than in non-injured people.
The H reflex tracks motor scores, but the broader posterior root muscle reflex does not, meaning these two tests measure different things.
Key findings
01Subjects with spinal cord injury had significantly higher soleus reflex amplitudes and less step-cycle modulation compared to non-injured controls.
02H reflex modulation correlated with lower extremity motor scores, but posterior root muscle reflex modulation did not.
03The two reflex types showed poor correlation during stepping, indicating they activate different neural pathways.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (n=25). Robotic orthosis and body weight support create artificial stepping conditions that differ from over-ground walking. The PRM reflex may include an efferent (motor) component that confounds interpretation, though authors argue this is unlikely. Stimulation intensities required for PRM reflexes were high and sometimes exceeded comfortable thresholds.
Declared interests
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that posterior root muscle (PRM) reflexes provide the same information as soleus H reflexes. The study found poor correlation between the two during stepping, and PRM modulation did not track with motor scores, meaning they reflect different aspects of spinal circuitry.