Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive tool to gain insight on the physiology and function of the human nervous system. Here, we present our TMS techniques to study cortical excitability of the upper limb and lumbar musculature.
The overall goal of this procedure is to perform transcranial magnetic stimulation to elicit motor evoked potentials. First in the flexor carpi radialis muscle, and then in the erector spine, a muscles. This is accomplished by first preparing the skin overlying the respective muscles for electromyographic recordings and biomechanically positioning the subject for transcranial magnetic stimulation.
The hotspot is identified as the portion of the stimulation location over the motor cortex that elicits the largest motor revoked potentials. The next step is to determine the motor threshold. At this point, single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation is performed to quantify motor evoked potential amplitude and silent period duration.
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