Locomotion

Director
Prof. Dr. Volker Dietz

In paraplegic and tetraplegic patients, communication between the spinal cord and the brain is fully or partially interrupted. However, the section of spinal cord below the injury remains intact and fully functional. In healthy people, this section of the spinal cord makes a considerable contribution to controlling walking and standing, through reflexes and spinal locomotion generators. After a paralysing spinal cord injury, these functions get mixed up because there is no longer any impulse from the upper part of the spine. If the right therapies are used, the spinal cord can learn how to perform its original functions correctly under these new conditions. This group therefore focuses on researching (spinal) motor functions and the (spines) mechanisms for learning and adapting.