The Effect of Spinal Electrical Cord Stimulation for Neurogenic Bladder

Karina Toska, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in Biology and minor in Spanish

My research was motivated by an interest in anatomy and a curiosity of understanding the body systems and how they affect each other. My objective explored urinary incontinence due to spinal cord injury. Urinary incontinence is the leakage of urine from the bladder due to an individual losing control over the muscles in the bladder due to weakness. The urinary system and central nervous system are involved because the damage to nerves in the spinal cord create a miscommunication with the bladder which ultimately leads to patients urinating involuntarily, when their bladder isn’t full.

Methods such as electrical muscle stimulation are used, where shocks are applied from patches placed on top of or under the skin. Studies found that the electrical muscle stimulation had a positive impact, where events of involuntary urination decreased by 64%.

I was anticipating my capstone being difficult, because many studies had to be conducted and reviewed. It was challenging to read through multiple articles and create one cohesive paper based on many different data sets. Learning about and writing about the anatomy of the human body was easy since I had already learned that, and reading through articles gave me a refresher.

I think research on this topic could be further expanded to test if electrical muscle stimulation is able to provide more function to other limitations in the body, such as paralysis. Individuals who have gone through many unfortunate events that left them with paralyzed body parts might feel like they have lost hope, that they’ll never be able to move as they did before. Now, with new technological advancements, they will be able to regain function.

 After this research experience, I have been very appreciative of the physicians and physical therapists that work to help patients live happier lives and allow them to get therapy to gain more control over their bodies, therefore allowing them to have more control over their lives. I’ve been working as an EMT and many of the older patients I have had to transport have urinary incontinence, and many are bed-ridden, with diapers or tubes to catch their urine into a jug.

I was surprised yet elated with the results; in the beginning I had no idea if shocks delivered to the spinal cord would actually have a noticeable effect on a patient being able to hold in their urine, but in a relatively short time, I found that it was possible.