The Effect of High Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Community Ambulation Ability in Spinal Cord Injury Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on spasticity and gait ability in incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. 14 subjects were randomly assigned to each of 7 experimental and control groups. 20 Hz high frequency rTMS was applied to the experimental group for 20 minutes per day, 5 times a week for a total of 4 weeks and sham rTMS was applied to the control group. The subjects were assessed for spasticity by Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Spinal Cord Injury Assessment Tool for Spasticity (SCATS). In the evaluation of gait ability, 10 Meter Walk Test (10MWT) for gait speed and Community walk test (CWT) for ability of community ambulation were used. A significant improvement in MAS, SCATS, 10MWT and CWT was observed after intervention in the experimental group (p 0.05), and there was a significant improvement in all evaluation items compared to the control group (p 0.05). The results of this study suggest that high frequency rTMS applied to primary motor cortex (M1) positively affects spasticity and gait ability in incomplete spinal cord injury patients.