Spinal cord stimulation disrupts ankle proprioception, reshapes gait in new study

Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) acutely disrupts conscious ankle proprioception in unimpaired adults, significantly increasing localization error without changing strength. Gait shifts toward a more constrained pattern, with reduced step width and mediolateral center-of-mass excursion. With continued training under stimulation, proprioceptive error decreased, and the tSCS group showed progressive improvement that persisted after stimulation ended—unlike controls. Sagittal-plane gait measures recovered, while mediolateral measures stayed constrained. The findings show tSCS reshapes multiple parts of the sensorimotor loop, and that the nervous system can adapt to altered afferent input through training.