Gustavo Balbinot

• Ph.D in Neuroscience
• Professor (Assistant) at Simon Fraser University

Background: Spinal cord injuries (SCI) can affect muscle control, often resulting in significant functional impairments. Damage to sensorimotor pathways in the spinal cord can lead to muscle weakness, which may gradually recover during the first year post-injury. Functional electrical stimulation therapy (FEST) aims to enhance muscle strength, part...

Objective Current clinical practice guidelines support structured, progressive protocols for improving walking after stroke. Technology enables monitoring of exercise and therapy intensity, but safety concerns could also be addressed. This study explores functional mobility in post-stroke individuals using wearable technology to quantify movement s...

The central and peripheral nervous systems are specialized to conduct electrical currents that underlie behaviour. When this multidimensional electrical system is disrupted by degeneration, damage, or disuse, externally applied electrical currents may act to modulate neural structures and provide therapeutic benefit. The administration of electrica...

Disruptions in the brain’s connections to the hands resulting from a cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI) can lead to severe and persistent functional impairments. The integrity of these connections is an important predictor of upper extremity recovery in stroke and may similarly act as a biomarker in cSCI. In this perspective article, we review rece...

Background: The drivers that activate endogenous ependymal-derived neural stem/progenitor cells (epNSPCs) remain unknown. Understanding the mechanisms that govern the biology of these cells is critical in developing a therapeutic strategy to harness their regenerative potential after injury. Methods: FoxJ1-CreER-tdTomato reporter mice were used for...

The Performance Index (P-Index) is a measure for evaluating mobility-related dual-task performance in older adults. The identification of specific clinicodemographic factors predictive of P-Index scores, however, remains unclear. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 120 community-dwelling older adults (average age 71.3 ± 11.23 years) to ex...

Introduction Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TSCS), a non-invasive form of spinal cord stimulation, has been shown to improve motor function in individuals living with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the effects of different types of TSCS currents including direct current (DC-TSCS), alternating current (AC-TSCS), and spinal paired stimul...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a profoundly debilitating condition with no effective treatment to date. The complex response of the central nervous system (CNS) to injury and its limited regeneration capacity pose bold challenges for restoring function. Cervical SCIs are the most prevalent and regaining hand function is a top priority for individuals...

Objective. Spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause significant impairment and disability with an impact on the quality of life for individuals with SCI and their caregivers. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a sensitive and non-invasive technique to measure muscle activity and has demonstrated great potential in capturing neuromuscular changes resultin...

Background Cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause significant impairment and disability with an impact on individuals’ quality of life and independence. Surface electromyography (SEMG) is a sensitive and non-invasive technique to measure muscle activity and has demonstrated great potential in capturing the impact from SCI. The mechanisms of SC...

Background: Stroke results in loss of upper motor neuron control over voluntary movements and emergence of abnormal synergies. Presently, it is unclear to what extent poststroke recovery reflects true recovery (restitution), compensation, or some combination of these processes. Here, we investigated this question using behavioral and kinematic ana...

Study design: Pilot study. Objectives: To examine if functional electrical stimulation therapy (FEST) improves neuromuscular factors underlying upper limb function in individuals with SCI. Setting: A tertiary spinal cord rehabilitation center specialized in spinal cord injury care in Canada. Methods: We examined 29 muscles from 4 individuals...

Cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) causes extensive impairments for individuals which may include dextrous hand function. Although prior work has focused on the recovery at the person-level, the factors determining the recovery of individual muscles are poorly understood. Here, we investigate the muscle-specific recovery after cervical spinal cord i...

Targeting reconsolidation with propranolol, a blocker of β-adrenergic receptors (β-ARs), emerged as a potential treatment for maladaptive memories such as those involved in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Reconsolidation targeting treatments for PTSD are becoming a common practice in the clinic and it is important to unveil any side effects u...

Background Mobility smoothness assessed by the spectral arc length (SPARC) may reflect the complex biomechanical alterations that occur with aging and may help detect functional mobility changes after experiencing falls. Here, we sought to explore whether smoothness of angular velocities of the trunk measured using SPARC metrics in the instrumented...

Background: Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition commonly originating from motor vehicle accidents or falls. Trauma care after SCI is challenging; after decompression surgery and spine stabilization, the first step is to assess the location and severity of the traumatic lesion. For this, clinical outcome measures are used t...

The Graded Redefined Assessment of Strength, Sensibility, and Prehension Version 1 (GRASSP v1) is a validated measure of upper extremity impairment shown to be sensitive and responsive for traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) in both North American (NA) and European (EU) cohorts. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is the quan...

Targeting reconsolidation with propranolol, a blocker of β-adrenergic receptors (β-ARs), emerged as a potential treatment for maladaptive memories such as those involved in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Reconsolidation targeting treatments for PTSD are becoming a common practice in the clinic and it is important to unveil any side effects u...

Objective Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a common electrophysiological assessment used in clinical trials in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). This scoping review summarizes the most common sEMG techniques used to address clinically relevant neurorehabilitation questions. We focused on the role of sEMG assessments in the clinical pract...

Kinematics is the gold‐standard method for measuring detailed joint motions. Recent research demonstrates that post‐stroke kinematic analysis in rats reveals reaching abnormalities similar to those seen in humans after stroke. Nonetheless, behavioral neuroscientists have failed to incorporate kinematic methods for assessing movement quality in stro...

Cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) severely impacts widespread bodily functions with extensive impairments for individuals, who prioritize regaining hand function. Although prior work has focused on the recovery at the person- level, the factors determining the recovery potential of individual muscles are poorly understood. There is a need for chang...

Reaching tasks are commonly used in preclinical and clinical studies to assess the acquisition of fine motor skills and recovery of function following stroke. These tasks are often used to assess functional deficits in the absence of quantifying the quality of movement which requires kinematic analysis. To meet this need, this study uses a kinemati...

Introduction: Dual tasking is common in activities of daily living (ADLs) and the ability to perform them usually declines with age. While cognitive aspects influence dual task (DT) performance, most DT-cost (DT-C) related metrics include only time- or speed- delta without weighting the accuracy of cognitive replies involved in the task. Objectives...

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts spinal and supraspinal pathways, and this process is reflected in changes in surface electromyography (sEMG). sEMG is an informative complement to current clinical testing and can capture the residual motor command in great detail—including in muscles below the level of injury with seemingly absent motor...

Background Walking speed is often used in the clinic to assess the level of gait impairment following stroke. Nonetheless, post-stroke individuals may employ the same walking speed but at a distinct movement quality. The main objective of this study was to explore a novel movement quality metric, the estimation of gait smoothness by the spectral ar...

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) has a significant impact on motor control and active force generation. Quantifying muscle activation following SCI may help indicate the degree of motor impairment and predict the efficacy of rehabilitative interventions. In healthy persons, muscle activation is typically quantified by electromyographic (EMG) si...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition that is often associated with movement impairments, such as reduced balance and gait control. Virtual reality (VR) is a promising intervention for enhancing rehabilitation efficiency and may assist in overcoming functional limitations imposed by the disability. The objective of this study wa...

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Biology Open, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Gustavo Balbinot and Clarissa Pedrini Schuch are first authors on ‘Mechanical and energetic determinants of impaired gait following stroke: segmental work and p...

Systems biology postulates the balance between energy production and conservation in optimizing locomotion. Here, we analyzed how mechanical energy production and conservation influenced metabolic energy expenditure in stroke survivors during treadmill walking at different speeds. We used the body center of mass (BCoM) and segmental center of mass...

Aging-related neuromuscular and neurocognitive decline induces unsmooth movements in daily functional mobility. Here, we used a robust analysis of linear and angular spectral arc length (SPARC) in the single and dual task instrumented timed up-and-go (iTUG) test to compare functional mobility smoothness in fallers and non-fallers aged 85 and older....

Objective Chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA) often leads to reduced function and engagement in activities of daily living. Current pharmacological treatments remain relatively ineffective. This study investigated the efficacy of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on cartilage integrity and central pain biomarkers in adult male Wistar r...

Background: Impairments of functional mobility may affect locomotion and quality of life in subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD). Movement smoothness measurements, such as the spectral arc length (SPARC), are novel approaches to quantify movement quality. Previous studies analyzed SPARC in simple walking conditions. However, SPARC outcomes durin...

Background Diminished cognitive flexibility is a common form of executive dysfunction that results from stroke in the prefrontal cortex. Potential therapies targeting this type of cognitive deficit following stroke are lacking. New method Here, we used environmental enrichment (EE) as a rehabilitation approach, integrated with a radio frequency id...

von Monakow’s theory of diaschisis states the functional ‘standstill’ of intact brain regions that are remote from a damaged area, often implied in recovery of function. Accordingly, neural plasticity and activity patterns related to recovery are also occurring at the same regions. Recovery relies on plasticity in the periinfarct and homotopic cont...

A coordinated pattern of multi-muscle activation is essential to produce efficient reaching trajectories. Disruption of these coordinated activation patterns, termed synergies, is evident following stroke and results in reaching deficits; however, preclinical investigation of this phenomenon has been largely ignored. Furthermore, traditional outcom...

Supplementary information for: Balbinot G, Schuch CP, Jeffers MS, McDonald MW, Livingston-Thomas JM, Corbett DC. Post-stroke kinematic analysis in rats reveals similar reaching abnormalities as humans. Scientific Reports, 8, 8738, 2018. This file contains Supplementary Video 1. The emergence of an abnormal elbow flexion synergy hampers the ability...

Supplementary information for: Balbinot G, Schuch CP, Jeffers MS, McDonald MW, Livingston-Thomas JM, Corbett DC. Post-stroke kinematic analysis in rats reveals similar reaching abnormalities as humans. Scientific Reports, 8, 8738, 2018. This file contains Supplementary Figures S1-S3, and Supplementary Tables S1-S2.

Supplementary information for: Balbinot G, Schuch CP, Jeffers MS, McDonald MW, Livingston-Thomas JM, Corbett DC. Post-stroke kinematic analysis in rats reveals similar reaching abnormalities as humans. Scientific Reports, 8, 8738, 2018. This file contains Supplementary Video 2. Abnormal movement patterns in rats following stroke. Following stroke...

Upper limb impairment is a particularly debilitating and pervasive functional deficit following stroke, and is commonly modelled in preclinical research. As such, various tests have been developed to evaluate upper limb function in rats, varying in degree of difficulty, time required for performance and analysis, and susceptibility to compensatory...

Although almost half of all walking bouts in urban environments consist of less than 12 consecutive steps and several day-to-day gait activities contain transient gait responses, in most studies gait analysis is performed at steady-state. This study aimed to analyze external (Wext) and internal mechanical work (Wint), pendulum-like mechanics, and e...

Background: Recently a new shoe design with air compartments at the insole has been developed and termed as toning shoes. However, it is unclear how this air compartments-based shoe could affect muscle activation and centre of pressure during treadmill walking or quiet standing.Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare muscular activation durin...

The purpose of this study was to construct and test a footswitch system for measurement of initial contact during shod and barefoot walking. One young healthy subject participated of this preliminary study. Initial contact was measured during level walking on a force plate at various random speeds. The footswitch system showed satisfactory results...

Human walking is one of the most investigated biomechanical events, and gait analysis depends on accurate measurement of heel strike (HS) and toe off (TO). The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a low-cost footswitch system for the measurement of temporal gait parameters. Ten young healthy subjects participated of the validation an...

Background:Recently a new shoe design with air compartments at the insole has been developed and termed as toning shoes. However, it is unclear how this air compartments-based shoe could affect muscle activation and centre of pressure during treadmill walking or quiet standing. Purpose:The aim of this study was to compare muscular activation during...

Recently, shoes with irregular soles have been developed aiming to induce instability during foot contact with the ground. The Reebok Easytone® is one of these shoes, which induce instability by means of two balance pods filled with air, one at the rearfoot and other at the forefoot region. Six males and four females participated in this preliminar...

The aim of the present study was to estimate ground reaction force (GRF) by means of a linear regression equation with input data from footprints. It can be used to provide further information on locomotion of extinct mammals and/or early humans, thus providing important knowledge about human bipedal locomotion evolution. Fossilized footprints cont...

The main objective of this work was to analyze the level of cushioning of a new minimalist footwear; the study was performed with a healthy female, 28 years old, 62,4kg of body weight, 163cm of height, with no injuries of the inferior body members in the last year. The study was performed at the Research Biomechanics Laboratory (IBTeC - Brazilian I...

O envelhecimento é um fenômeno natural e associado a modificações funcionais e estruturais das células e tecidos corporais. A caminhada é uma atividade com características aeróbicas potenciais para manutenção da saúde, condicionamento físico e força muscular. Embora a caminhada apresente magnitudes de força de reação do solo que correspondem a pouc...

The aging process modifies body composition and the inertial properties of body limbs might change accordingly. Pendular energy exchange, mechanical work and locomotion efficiency should be affected by these changes. To check this hypothesis, seven elderly subjects were asked to walk on a treadmill at five speeds ranging from 0.55 to 1.66 m·s-1. Th...

Human walking is a task of simple execution, but complex from the biomechanical point of view. Small alterations in the contact surface during the step, such as shoe wearing, can result in differences on the biomechanics of walking. Archeological evidences suggests that footwear are utilized since the upper Paleolithic era (300.000-15.000 B.C; THIN...

With increased life expectancy it is important to understand the aging process and the conditions for a better quality of life. Falls are considered risk factors for this population because it can generate both, physical and psychological impairments. Walking speed and dynamic stability are factors that are related to this above-mentioned process,...

Tribology, is the study of friction, which uses several types of instrumentation and methods to assess static and dynamic conditions, in situations such as with surface contaminants or dry. Rarely, the results between these types of instrumentation agree. And so, it is necessary to obtain other parameters related to ground reaction force (GRF), whi...

Functional taping has been used as a treatment of injuries, joint stabilization and facilitation of muscle activation. However only in recent years it has been investigated concerning the effects on muscle performance (e.g. ground reaction forces). Therefore, the purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the effects of taping placement o...

Over the past few years instability shoes concept has been analyzed among several studies, and exposed to several speculations related to its real benefits. The main objective of the present study is to compare the cushioning index provided by the instability shoe against regular shoes, as well as vertical ground reaction force behavior along other...

Human walking is only possible due to the shear and compressive forces acting at the ground and foot surface or shoe´s sole. When the ratio between these forces exceeds the ratio between the friction forces by a normal force (coefficient of dynamic friction), a surface slide occurs. The main objective of this study was to analyze the utilized coeff...

Functional taping has been used as a treatment of injuries, joint stabilization and facilitation of muscle activation however only in recent years it has been investigated concerning their effects on muscle performance (e.g. ground reaction forces). Therefore, the purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the effects of taping placement...