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TREADMILL TRAINING
"One example of neural plasticity is the improvement seen in locomotion of patients with stroke or spinal cord injury through partial body weight supported treadmill training. This rapidly developing form of therapy is based on two fundamental observations. First, that the spinal cord of all vertebrates, including man, contains neuronal circuitry that encoded the locomotor pattern, that can be activated by stimulation at supraspinal, suprasegmental, or segmental levels or even by intrathecal drug administration. The activation of locomotor circuitry does not therefore require moment-to-moment control of individual muscles by the brain.

The second observation was that repeated activation of the central pattern generating circuit by treadmill training could result in long lasting enhancement of locomotor output. In human trials, this resulted in improved locomotion months and even years after training was discontinued."

Excerpt from: The Role of Neural
Plasticity in Neurorehabilitation
Michael E. Selzer, MD, PhD.,
Associate Dean of Graduate Education
University of Pennsylvania Medical College,USA