Participate in a study on thought-controlled cycling

BioSpine is a non-invasive rehabilitation system for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) that combines the effect of multiple technologies and drug therapy. Current evidence suggests that electrical stimulation of muscle and spinal cord, thought-control, virtual reality, cycling, and anti-anxiety drugs could partially restore movement and sensation in people with SCI.

This clinical study assesses the long-term effects of BioSpine’s new type of rehabilitation, following a 6-month intervention, on motor and sensory function of people with SCI.

Want to participate?

Register your interest

Why is this research being conducted?

Approximately 20,800 Australians are living with SCI and 350-400 people sustain a new SCI each year. Of these injuries ~80% are due to traumatic injury and just under half are from motor vehicle accidents.

SCIs cost the Australian economy $3.7 billion per annum and the total lifetime cost of SCI in 2020 is estimated at $75.4 billion. Further, if a treatment could improve muscle function in just 10% of people with SCI, it can offer $3.6bn–$10.3bn in cost savings (“Spinal Cord Injuries in Australia – The case for investing in new treatments”, SpinalCure Australia, 2020).

Conventional rehabilitation for individuals with an SCI requires clinicians to manually mobilise a patient’s limbs and/or manually set machine-driven therapies to enable patient movement. These approaches can be time consuming to set-up and perform, costly and physically demanding, potentially requiring multiple therapists.

Recent studies have shown that brain-computer interfaces coupled with intensive, highly repetitive, regular doses of machine-driven movement therapy and drug therapy have resulted in neurological recovery in SCI patients, including partial restoration of voluntary motor function below the SCI level. Furthermore, complementary drug therapy has the potential to increase restoration of voluntary movement.

Are you eligible?

Participants will have a clinically complete or incomplete chronic traumatic spinal cord injury, and be over the age of 18, with their injury incurred at least two years prior to initiation of the study. A screening procedure will determine if possible medical conditions allow you to participate in the study. The cost of these tests will be covered. The screening procedure includes:

  • Standard blood testing to evaluate your renal and liver function.
  • Bone density scan.
  • Physiotherapy assessment to evaluate the overall health of your joints as well as your level of SCI as per the American Spinal Injury association (ASIA) assessment.

Participation requirement

Participants will be asked to attend the BioSpine laboratory at Griffith University Gold Coast for at least 150 minutes per week (2-4 sessions per week) over a 6-month period. Training involves thought-controlled electrical stimulation of the legs for cycling.

The study will commence mid-2024.

Contact us

Email us for more information or to register. Contact Kyle Mulholland, BioSpine Project Manager, G02_2.38, School of Health Sciences & Social Work, Griffith University.

This clinical trial has Griffith University' s Human Research Ethics Committee's (HREC) approval. Ref: 2024/152.