BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging and Stimulation
Lumbar Enlargement Spinal Cord Stimulation for Severe Spasticity and Motor Function Improvement After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Pain Management, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- 2Yueyang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Yue yang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This case report describes the successful use of epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in managing severe, refractory spasticity in a 58-year-old male following traumatic brain injury. Despite nearly eight months of conventional pharmacotherapy and rehabilitation for his tetraplegia, his lower-limb spasticity persisted at Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) grade 3, severely impeding functional recovery. After implantation of a trial and subsequently permanent SCS system at the lumbar enlargement, muscle tone decreased to MAS grade 2 within 48 hours, alongside improvements in muscle strength. Over six months, stimulation led to a marked reduction in the frequency and severity of spastic episodes. This spasticity relief fundamentally improved the patient's sleep quality and enabled significant functional gains, including assisted standing and pedal stepping. This case demonstrates the positive effect of SCS for a condition often resistant to standard treatments. The results support re-evaluating SCS's therapeutic potential for refractory spasticity caused by TBI and other central nervous system disorders, potentially through mechanisms involving the modulation of spinal cord excitability.
Keywords: case report, Refractory, Spasticity, Spinal Cord Stimulation, Traumatic Brain Injury
Received: 04 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wu, Wang and Hong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bo Hong
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.