Neuromodulation for Gait Disorders

Both the clinical success of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease and the discovery that epidural spinal cord stimulation can restore volitional movement in patients with chronic motor-complete spinal cord injury were paradigm shifting milestones that sparked the field of neuromodulation. The rapid expansion of neuromodulatory approaches and targets being researched today underlies the high hopes and expectations of the neuroscience community. Here, we provide an overview of the neurophysiological basis of gait, the pathophysiology of some common gait disorders, and review the most promising neuromodulatory strategies being investigated to augment one of our most fundamental daily activities—walking.