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Corticospinal lesions cause impairments in voluntary motor control. Recent findings suggest that some degree of voluntary control may be taken over by a compensatory pathway involving the reticulospinal tract. In humans, evidence for this notion mainly comes from StartReact studies. StartReact is the acceleration of reaction times by a startling acoustic stimulus (SAS) simultaneously presented with the imperative stimulus. As previous StartReact studies mainly focused on isolated single-joint movements, the question remains whether the reticulospinal tract can also be utilized for controlling whole-body movements. To investigate reticulospinal control, we applied the StartReact paradigm during gait initiation in 12 healthy controls and 12 patients with 'pure' hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP; i.e., retrograde axonal degeneration of corticospinal tract). Participants performed three consecutive steps in response to an imperative visual stimulus. In 25% of 16 trials a SAS was applied. We determined reaction times of muscle (de)activation, anticipatory postural adjustments (APA) and steps. Without SAS, we observed an overall delay in HSP patients compared to controls. Administration of the SAS accelerated tibialis anterior and rectus femoris onsets in both groups, but more so in HSP patients, resulting in (near-)normal latencies. Soleus offsets were accelerated in controls, but not in HSP patients. The SAS also accelerated APA and step reaction times in both groups, yet these did not normalize in the HSP patients. The reticulospinal tract is able to play a compensatory role in voluntary control of whole-body movements, but seems to lack the capacity to inhibit task-inappropriate muscle activity in patients with corticospinal lesions.

Robot-assisted gait training has been investigated for restoring walking through activity-dependent neuroplasticity in persons with various neurologic disorders. This case report presents the outcome of robot-assisted gait training combined with physiotherapy in a 28-year-old man with pure hereditary spastic paraplegia. The patient participated in 25 training sessions over 6 weeks. Improvements were noted in his walking speed and balance after the training, but gait kinematics and kinetics showed no remarkable changes before and after the training. Robot-assisted gait training may be useful for providing intensive gait training in patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia because the patient's walking speed and balance improved after the training., (Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Gait impairment, balance problems and falls have a negative impact on independence in ADL and quality of life of patients affected by Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP). Since no pharmacological options are available, treatments rely mostly on rehabilitation therapy, although almost no data on this topic exist. Given the demonstrated effectiveness of robotics in improving gait and balance in various neurological diseases, aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of a robotic-aided program of gait training on balance, walking ability and quality of life in adult subjects affected by uncomplicated HSP., Methods: Thirteen patients affected by uncomplicated HSP were subjected to a six-week robotic-aided gait training protocol. Participants underwent a battery of 3 walking test, 1 balance test and 2 quality of life questionnaires., Results: At the end of the treatment a significant improvement of balance, walking ability and quality of life was observed in almost all the tests. The improvements were maintained over a two-month follow-up period., Conclusions: Our study indicates that a robotic gait training is long term effective in improving balance and walking ability with a positive impact on quality of life in patients affected by uncomplicated form of HSP. As currently there is no specific treatment to prevent or reverse HSP progression, our contribution would be significant for the development of exercise recommendations in this rare disease.