Electrophysiologic changes in lumbar spinal cord after cervical cord injury.

Spontaneous activity on the EMG examination is traditionally ascribed to disease of the lower motor neuron when present in muscles well below the level of para- or quadriplegia despite the absence of any detectable peripheral nerve injury. It is uncertain whether it reflects transient paralysis of transmission (related to clinical spinal shock) or irreversible postsynaptic damage. We performed serial EMG studies of lower extremities and …