Non Invasive Neuromodulation for Patients With Motor Control Disorders

Development and Clinical Validation of a Rehabilitation Platform Based on Neuromodulation for Patients With Motor Control Disorders

Movement disorders are neurological syndromes leading to excessive movements or to limited control of voluntary and automatic movements. Many of these disorders are not life-threatening but represent serious difficulties in carrying out the activities of daily living and reduce patient's independence and quality of life.

This project NeuroMOD (neuromodulation for patients with disorders of motor control) proposes the development of a neuromodulation-based platform for the rehabilitation and restoration of motor and cognitive functions of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD). Our project will focus on the application of a novel neurorehabilitation strategy, its functional and clinical validation, and on the evaluation of the impact of the use of the technologies involved in the musculoskeletal and the nervous system as well as user behavior.

Parkinson's disease was selected as target pathology since it represents a paradigm of motor disorder diseases.

Parkinson's disease affects adults and has a very high prevalence and a very high functional impact.

In order to achieve this objective, we have defined the following research areas:

Subproject 1. NeuroMOD: development of a neuromodulation platform composed by a TMS system, and an EMG (electromyography) and EEG (electroencephalography) system in combination with a system of virtual reality based on immersive glasses.

Subproject 2. NeuroMOD-PD: development of therapies and evaluation of clinical evidence and motor and cognitive impact of NeuroMOD in the rehabilitation of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease impact.

Subproject 3. NeuroMOD-Image: development of neuroimaging techniques to investigate the brain areas affected by the proposed therapies and temporary terms that neural plasticity is induced and evolves in Parkinson´s Disease.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Idiopathic Parkinsons Disease
• Hoehn Yahr Scale I-III
• No drug changes in the last 90 days
• No exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

• Dementia (Minimental scale score <25)
• Dependency (modified Rankin scale > 3)
• Pregnancy or pregnancy plans
• Pacemaker
• Implanted metal devices
• cochlear implants
• claustrophobia
• drug infusion pumps
• epilepsy / epileptiform anomalies in electroencephalography (EEG)
• known structural alterations in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Atypical Parkinsonism
• Previous repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)
• Severe comorbidity (cancer, severe debilitating diseases, etc.)