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Fig. 4 | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation

Fig. 4

From: Epidural stimulation restores muscle synergies by modulating neural drives in participants with sensorimotor complete spinal cord injuries

Fig. 4

Spinal activity mapped during BL hip and BL ankle movements during BMCA in SCI participants and control participants. The x axis corresponds to movement as a percentage of task completion (temporal domain); the y axis depicts the spinal segment in the rostro-caudal plane from L1-S1 (spatial domain); and the heatmap represents the estimated alpha motor neuron activity. These estimated spinal activation patterns were obtained by mapping each muscle activation onto the relevant spinal segment based on the Sharrard chart [25]. The left columns are the spinal activation patterns generated from muscle activity during BL hip movement. The right columns are the spinal activation patterns generated from muscle activity during BL ankle movement. The spinal activation patterns reveal that the estimated spinal activity is more localized in the temporal domain under stimulation conditions than in the control. The localization of spinal activity during BL hip movement suggests improper hip extension, as motor neurons are active mostly in the first half of contraction. The observed localization during BL ankle movement suggests reduced control as the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius are co-contracted

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