Abstract

Neurophysiological assessment of spinal cord injury can inform the development of more effective interventions. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that can provide insights into corticospinal neurophysiology. Today’s talk will provide an overview of the use of TMS for neurophysiology assessment. This will be followed by a presentation of a study on TMS-based assessment of corticospinal inhibition and its relationship with upper extremity motor function in individuals with cervical spinal cord injury.

Biography

Tarun Arora is a researcher interested in promoting movement and function in individuals with neurological impairments.  He was trained as a physical therapist in India and pursued his graduate education in Canada.  During his Ph.D. at the University of Saskatchewan, he studied the biomechanics of postural control in individuals with spinal cord injury.  Later, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and Krembil Research Institute in Toronto investigating non-invasive methods of neural stimulation for the assessment and treatment of neurological impairments.  Currently, he works as a researcher at Oslo University Hospital in Norway where he is developing electrophysiology biomarkers for posture and gait disorders in Parkinson’s disease.