Rehabilitation following spinal cord injury: how animal models can help our understanding of exercise-induced neuroplasticity

Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leads to long-term paralysis due to the limited healing capacity of the central nervous system. Rehabilitation is currently the only effective strategy. Animal models like bicycling, treadmill training, swimming, enriched environments, or wheel running can help us understand the changes in axonal connections that underlie motor recovery after SCI. This review focuses on animal models of SCI rehabilitation and the changes in neuronal networks improved by exercise.

• 1
  Animal models of SCI rehabilitation, such as treadmill training and wheel running, can mimic clinical rehabilitation and reveal axonal changes underlying motor recovery.
• 2
  Rehabilitative strategies in animals lead to the upregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is crucial for activity-dependent neuronal plasticity and learning.
• 3
  Exercise and neuronal re-wiring seem to be the underlying cause for this sustained improved recovery after spinal cord injury.