Background
Traumatic, stroke, traumatic SCI, injury between stroke, ischaemia, trauma
CERVICAL LESIONS, STROKE, ISCHAEMIA, SPINAL CORD
Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) represents a devastating condition for physical and social well-being [Over the last decade, the epidemiology of traumatic SCI has progressively changed with an increase in cervical lesions, particularly at C1-C4 levels [Technological advances have led to the development of novel interventions aimed at improving upper arm function in individuals with SCI [Current rehabilitation approaches after traumatic SCI mainly consist of intensive training of lost or impaired function that is assumed to increase the activity-dependent plasticity of spared circuits and thus leading to functional improvements [In the effort of encouraging the top-down contribution of supraspinal sensorimotor signal in SCI rehabilitation, the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology [The main evidence for the efficacy of non-invasive BCIs as neurorehabilitation tools stems from clinical trials conducted on stroke population, in which BCI-assisted MI training was shown to be effective in promoting brain plasticity, resulting in improved hand motor function [Moreover, despite differences in the usual mechanism of injury between stroke (ischaemia) and SCI (trauma), rehabilitation approaches could successfully translate in similar recovery of sensorimotor functions between ischaemic and traumatic SCI [For this reason, it could be assumed that monitoring and modulating the central nervous system plasticity occurring after a SCI is a key factor in shaping clinically valuable top-down rehabilitation strategies with the aim to recover sensorimotor function after SCI. In the DiSCIoser study, we propose to use a goal-oriented action imagination training, controlled, and objectified by means of a BCI system. As such, the BCI based motor imagination training would engage the sensorimotor system and thus facilitate neuroplasticity to eventually optimize upper limb sensorimotor functional recovery in patients with SCI during the subacute phase when brain and spinal plasticity is at its peak.