Italy - January 08, 2025 Credit: Daniele Emedoli / San Raffaele A promising new treatment for paraplegic patients suffering from spinal cord injuries is overcoming the challenge of muscle spasms, paving the way for improved mobility and rehabilitation. Scientists at EPFL, Università San Raffaele, and Scuola Sant’Anna have developed a groundbreaking approach that combines high-frequency spinal cord electrical stimulation with low-frequency stimulation to help patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries regain movement. Muscle spasticity, which affects nearly 70% of spinal cord injury patients, has long limited the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation in aiding movement recovery. However, the new technique—high-frequency electrical stimulation—blocks abnormal muscle contractions, allowing previously inaccessible rehabilitation protocols to yield positive clinical outcomes. The results, published in Science Translational Medicine, demonstrate that this combined approach overcomes muscle stiffness and spasms, enabling paralyzed patients to participate more effectively in rehabilitation and locomotion. "This is a safe and effective surgical procedure that offers a new perspective in treating patients with severe spinal cord damage," said Pietro Mortini, head of Neurosurgery at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele and professor at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele. "We are planning to expand this treatment to other clinical conditions in the near future." This breakthrough builds on the understanding that high-frequency stimulation can help control the spinal cord’s overreactive sensory-motor circuits, offering a safe and artificial means to manage muscle spasticity without causing discomfort to patients. Clinical trials are ongoing, and while the results so far are promising, researchers emphasize the need for further experiments to fully explore the potential of this innovative treatment.