Using Sympathetic Skin Responses in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury as a Quantitative Evaluation of Motor Imagery Abilities

Murielle Grangeon; Kathleen Charvier; Aymeric Guillot; Gilles Rode; Christian Collet

doi:10.2522/ptj.20110351

Figures

Figure 1.

Effect of the lesion level (A) and the severity (B) of spinal cord injury on the amplitude of the electrodermal response recorded above the lesion level. Great amplitude ratio=low amplitude response, r²=determination coefficient, AIS=American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale, CTL=control group.

Figure 2.

Example of electrodermal response recording during motor imagery (MI) of the drinking movement performed by an individual with a complete C6 spinal cord injury. Although a response was observed on the neck site, no response was recorded on the foot site. Electrodermal response values (kΩ) are on the vertical axis. Time (seconds) is on the horizontal axis.

Tables

Table 1.

Participant Characteristics

^a Asterisk indicates patient with previous autonomic dysreflexia.
^b American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale (AIS) classification: A=a complete lesion where no motor function or sensory function is preserved below the lesion level in the sacral segments S4–S5; B=an incomplete lesion where some sensory function is preserved below the lesion level, including the sacral segments S4–S5, but no motor function is preserved; C or D=an incomplete lesion where a portion of complete sensory function is preserved below the lesion level, including the sacral segments S4–S5, as well as a portion of motor function.
^c SCI=spinal cord injury.

Table 2.

Mean Values (Standard Deviation) Above and Below the Lesion Level in Each Group^{^a}

↵^a OPD=ohmic perturbation duration, amp ratio=response amplitude value divided by prestimulation value, A=actual task, MI=motor imagery.
^b Ellipsis indicates no foot response; mean values for group 2 (only the 2 participants with lumbar spinal cord injury elicited foot electrodermal responses) and group 3 (only 7 participants among 10 elicited foot electrodermal responses) below the lesion level.

Supplementary Data

eAppendix

Files in this Data Supplement:

eAppendix (PDF) (3.81 MB) - This PDF contains the following eAppendix:
- eAppendix. The Ambulatory Noninvasive System Dedicated to Autonomic Nervous System Recordings