Spasticity and Abnormal Tone Regulation After Spinal Cord Injury: Mechanisms and the Effects of Neuromodulation

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is frequently accompanied by abnormal muscle tone and spasticity, which impair voluntary motor control, mobility, and quality of life. Although classically defined as velocity-dependent hyperreflexia, tone abnormalities after SCI encompass a broader spectrum, including sustained muscle activation, co-contraction, clonus, and non–velocity-dependent resistance to movement. These manifestations arise from distributed changes across spinal and supraspinal motor systems. At the segmental level, SCI induces maladaptive plasticity involving motoneurons, interneurons, sensory afferents, and muscle, including dysregulated persistent inward currents, altered inhibitory neurotransmission, afferent hyperexcitability, synaptic reorganization, and structural muscle remodeling. In parallel, supraspinal adaptations—including cortical motor map reorganization, reduced intracortical inhibition, corticospinal–reticulospinal imbalance, loss of monoaminergic modulation, and altered brainstem and cerebellar regulation—further amplify spinal circuit gain and impair inhibitory control of tone. Current pharmacologic treatments largely suppress symptoms without addressing these underlying circuit changes, while invasive neuromodulatory strategies are limited by surgical risk or state-dependent effects. This review synthesizes emerging insights into the multilevel mechanisms regulating abnormal tone after SCI and examines neuromodulatory approaches targeting spinal and supraspinal networks. Particular attention is given to transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TcSCS), a non-invasive method capable of modulating segmental reflex circuits and descending control pathways. Advances in transcriptomic and epigenetic profiling may further enable mechanism-based therapies and biomarker-guided strategies for treating spasticity.