Motor Cortex rTMS Alleviates Pain and Comorbid Depression After Spinal Cord Injury with a Correlate in M1 Intracortical Inhibition.

Pain improved more after active rTMS than after sham in this small two-week study. Depression and anxiety improved within the active group, but those changes did not differ significantly from sham.

Lu Y, Zhao K, Liu X, Lin X, Xue B, Zhang X, Li R, Feng F, Ding W, Sun X, Yuan H.
Journal of pain research · Publication date: 2026-09-10
Added to site: 2026-09-17
DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S627677

First electronic publication date from the authoritative indexed record. Crossref supplies September 2026 without a day.

Modalities

rTMS, TMS

Clinical focus

Spinal cord injury, Neuropathic pain, Depression

Population

Adults with neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury

Sample

29 participants; 22 active and 7 sham

Intervention / method

Ten-hertz rTMS over left M1 hand area, 1,200 pulses at 80% resting motor threshold, once daily for two weeks

Comparator

Sham coil orientation with matched auditory stimulation

Clinician summary

Baseline-adjusted post-treatment pain favored active rTMS (P = 0.040). Between-group differences were not significant for PHQ-9, GAD-7, SICI or ICF, despite significant within-active-arm changes.

How to interpret the findings

The sham arm included only seven people, confidence intervals were wide, follow-up ended immediately after two weeks and the full text did not report treatment-specific adverse-event results.

Equipment and disclosures

CCY-1 stimulator with a figure-of-eight coil from Yiruide Medical Equipment Company, Wuhan, China, as reported in the full text.

The authors declared no competing interests. The full text reports support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Shaanxi Provincial Key Research and Development Program.

Related evidence

Compare findings from the same clinical area, including mixed results.

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• Transcranial low voltage pulsed electromagnetic fields in patients with treatment-resistant depression. · Positive with limitations
• The effects of swLORETA Z-score neurofeedback for patients comorbid with major depressive disorder and anxiety symptoms. · Positive with limitations
• Effects of swLORETA Z-score neurofeedback in Z-coherence of the fronto-limbic circuit in patients with major depressive disorder. · Positive with limitations
• Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT): A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial. · Positive with limitations
• Clinical Efficacy of High-Frequency Deep Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Depression and the Predictive Role of Baseline Triglyceride Levels: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial. · Positive with limitations
• TMS-EEG Correlate of Suicidal Ideation in Individuals with Depression: A Multi-Site Synthesis. · Positive with limitations
• A PRISMA-compliant Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Late Positive Potential in Depression. · Positive with limitations
• Efficacy of combined repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and occupational therapy in spinal cord injury patients: a randomized controlled clinical study. · Mixed
• Feasibility, tolerability, and preliminary effectiveness of an accelerated bilateral intermittent theta-burst stimulation protocol in adults with posttraumatic stress disorder and comorbid depressive disorder following mild traumatic brain injury. · Positive with limitations
• Accelerated TMS is associated with changes of subgenual cingulate-default mode network coupling in depression: an observational 7 Tesla fMRI study. · Mixed
• Identifying poor responders to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation using structural brain networks. · Positive with limitations
• Theta burst stimulation with 80 and 120% resting motor threshold do not differ in their antidepressant efficacy: a retrospective analysis. · Positive with limitations
• The effect of intermittent theta burst stimulation on central poststroke pain: A pilot randomized controlled trial. · Positive with limitations
• TMS-Evoked Cortical Reactivity Signatures as a Multidimensional Biomarker of Depression: A TMS-EEG Meta-Analysis from Diagnosis to Prognosis. · Positive with limitations
• Operant Conditioning of the Motor Evoked Potential in Forearm Extensors of Individuals with Chronic Incomplete Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Case Studies. · Positive with limitations
• The effects of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) on heart rate variability (HRV) in people with depression and/or anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis · Positive with limitations