BCIwiki (bciwiki.com) — Brazil's Santos Dumont Institute has launched a clinical trial to test whether brain-computer interface (BCI)-guided functional electrical stimulation (FES) can improve muscle activation and gait in people with spinal cord injury. The study, registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT07768930, was first posted on August 17, 2026, and is currently listed as active but not recruiting.
The intervention is ankle dorsiflexion rehabilitation: patients wear an EEG cap, the system detects motor-imagery-related brain signals in real time, and when an intention is detected, it triggers FES to stimulate the tibialis anterior muscle to assist ankle dorsiflexion, providing timely support during the gait cycle. The main outcome measures are improvements in muscle activation patterns and gait kinematics.
Spinal cord injury often leads to lower-limb motor dysfunction, and conventional rehabilitation has limited effects. The BCI-FES closed-loop system aims to combine the patient's active intention with electrical stimulation, potentially promoting neuroplasticity. However, the trial is at an early stage; key details such as enrollment target, primary endpoints, and estimated completion date are not fully disclosed in the registration record, and results will not be available until the study concludes.