Abstract
In uninjured humans, transmission in the corticospinal pathway changes in a task‐dependent manner during movement preparation. We investigated whether this ability is preserved in humans with incomplete chronic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI).
Our results show that corticospinal excitability is altered in the preparatory phase of an upcoming movement when there is a need to suppress but not to execute rapid index finger voluntary contractions in individuals with SCI compared with controls. This is probably related to impaired transmission at a cortical and spinal level after SCI.
Overall our findings indicate that deficits in corticospinal transmission in humans with chronic incomplete SCI are also present in the preparatory phase of upcoming movements.
