Dr. Roger Enoka, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been working closely with physicians from the Rocky Mountain MS Center Clinic at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in a study to test the impact of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in patients with MS. The study is accepting participants in or near the Boulder campus.
The goal of this pilot project is to determine if a particular kind of intervention can assist in mobility with people in MS. With this trial, electric shocks are applied to calf muscles using a technique called neuromuscular electrical stimulation. When you apply these types of shocks, it causes the muscles to contract and at the same time it sends signals back into the nervous system.
Dr. Enoka and his team are particularly interested in this technology for people with MS, because it’s clear that this treatment can influence the function of the nervous system, certainly at the level of the spinal cord and perhaps even in the brain.
Preliminary anecdotal results show encouraging results for study participants. For example, one participant wrote: ”There is no doubt in my mind that the treatments in the study improved my short-to middle-distance walking. I am able to walk up to a quarter-mile (or so) with a confidence that was not there prior to the treatments.”
This approach been tried in healthy individuals, in older adults with other kinds of chronic diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), but this is the first time it has been tried with people living with neurological diseases.
A link to the full description of the study can be found here: http://www.mscenter.org/about-us/news-room/news/376-two-studies-seeking-participants
If you are interested in signing up for the study, please contact the MS Hotline
by calling 303-724-4644 to learn more.