---
title: Improve walking with spinal stimulation
nct_id: NCT06804642
phase: NA
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: University of Louisville
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT06804642"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06804642"
last_fetched: "2026-05-10T14:02:19.716Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Improve walking with spinal stimulation

**Goal (in five words):** Improve walking with spinal stimulation

**Official Title:** Rehabilitation of Locomotor Function in Parkinson's Disease by Non-invasive Spinal Cord Stimulation

**Trial ID:** [NCT06804642](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06804642)

## Key Facts

- **Phase:** NA
- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Sponsor:** University of Louisville
- **Target Enrollment:** 20 participants
- **Start Date:** 2024-12-12
- **Completion Date:** 2029-12-11
- **Conditions:** Parkinson Disease
- **Interventions:** Spinal cord transcutaneous stimulation (scTS)
- **Intervention Types:** DEVICE

## Summary For Families

The goal is to improve walking and balance in people with Parkinson's, targeting problems like shuffling, poor coordination, and trouble initiating steps. The approach uses non-invasive spinal cord transcutaneous stimulation, delivering mild electrical pulses through the skin over the lower back to change how spinal networks shape stepping and boost coordination and endurance during gait, often paired with walking practice to reinforce improvements. It is a device-based rehab technique rather than a drug, so it aims to retrain nervous system control of walking. The trial is looking for adults 18 to 80 with Parkinson's who can walk 10 meters and give informed consent, and it excludes people with other major health problems that affect gait, serious cognitive or psychiatric conditions, uncontrolled substance abuse, or anything that would make stimulation unsafe.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 18 Years
- **Maximum age:** 80 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease;
* Adults aged 18 to 80 years;
* Competent to give informed consent for the research protocol;
* Able to understand instructions;
* Able to ambulate 10-meters.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Co-morbidities affecting gait;
* Clinically significant cognitive dysfunction;
* Clinically significant depression or major active psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder;
* Terminal illness associated with \<12-month survival;
* Have a current diagnosis or condition such as major cardiac insufficiency, determined clinically by the study doctors;
* Current alcohol or substance abuse that is uncontrolled or unmanageable;
* Individuals unable to communicate with the investigator and study staff; and/or
* Individuals with any illness that, in the study doctors' opinion, may preclude them from spinal cord transcutaneous stimulation, activity-based recovery training, or participation in study assessments.
```

## Locations (1)

- Frazier Rehab Institute, Louisville, Kentucky, United States _(38.2542, -85.7594)_
  - Alexander Ovechkin, MD, Ph.D. — (CONTACT) — 5025818675 — avovec02@louisville.edu
  - Andrea Wilhite, MS — (CONTACT) — 5025874871 — andrea.willhite@louisville.edu
  - Peter Hedera, MD, Ph.D. — (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
  - Victoria Holiday, MD — (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
  - Nelleke Van Wouwe, Ph.D. — (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
  - Alexander Ovechkin, MD, Ph.D. — (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
  - Ajmal Zemmar, MD, Ph.D. — (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)
  - Yury Gerasimenko, Ph.D. — (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)

## Central Contacts

- Andrea Wilhite, MS — (CONTACT) — 5025874871 — andrea.willhite@louisville.edu
- Kristin Benton, MS — (CONTACT) — 5025874871 — kristin.benton@louisville.edu

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT06804642*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT06804642*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06804642*