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Physiology of Motor Deficits and the Potential of Motor Recovery After a Spinal Cord Injury

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The Physiology of Exercise in Spinal Cord Injury

Part of the book series: Physiology in Health and Disease ((PIHD))

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Abstract

The focus of this chapter is to highlight some fundamental concepts on the physiology of movement control after a spinal cord injury (SCI). We will discuss how these concepts are defined by the order of motor unit recruitment within a motor pool and how the relative recruitment across multiple motor pools defines the movements performed. We then will describe how these factors are affected by SCI. Understanding how these particular “neural decisions” might be modified by SCI will provide greater insight in assessing the etiology of the movement dysfunctions and thus in finding potential resolutions in a given individual at a given time post-injury (Fig. 2.1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Terasaki Life Sciences Building, 610 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1527, USA

    V. Reggie Edgerton Ph.D. & Roland R. Roy Ph.D.

  2. University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    V. Reggie Edgerton Ph.D. & Roland R. Roy Ph.D.

  3. Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    V. Reggie Edgerton Ph.D. & Roland R. Roy Ph.D.

Authors
  1. V. Reggie Edgerton Ph.D.
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  2. Roland R. Roy Ph.D.
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Correspondence to V. Reggie Edgerton Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Hospital Cambridge, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    J. Andrew Taylor

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Edgerton, V.R., Roy, R.R. (2016). Physiology of Motor Deficits and the Potential of Motor Recovery After a Spinal Cord Injury. In: Taylor, J. (eds) The Physiology of Exercise in Spinal Cord Injury. Physiology in Health and Disease. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6664-6_2

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