News Archive

Our research paper has been published

We are pleased to announce that a research paper reporting the results of a collaborative study involving our department has been published in an international scientific journal.

Our research has shown that rhythmic arm movements activate the indirect corticospinal pathway, which transmits motor-related signals from the brain to the spinal cord.

Although exercises involving rhythmic arm movements have been suggested to improve motor impairments caused by stroke or spinal cord injury, the underlying mechanisms have remained unclear.

The study, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, was led by Dr. Tsuyoshi Nakajima, Associate Professor at Kokushikan University and Adjunct Lecturer at Kyorin University School of Medicine, and Dr. Kyosuke Hanafusa, Assistant Professor at Kyorin University.

The researchers found that arm cycling activates the indirect corticospinal pathway in healthy adults. This pathway has been suggested in non-human primate studies to contribute to motor recovery following spinal cord injury.

These findings may contribute to the development of new rehabilitation approaches for individuals with movement impairments resulting from neurological injuries and disorders, including stroke and spinal cord injury.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Article Title

Arm cycling modulates corticospinal transmission in the biceps brachii: potential involvement of premotoneuronal networks

Authors

Kyosuke Hanafusa*, Tsuyoshi Nakajima* (corresponding author), Shinya Suzuki, Tomoyoshi Komiyama, Yukari Ohki, Tomoaki Atomi (*: K. Hanafusa and T. Nakajima contributed equally to this work.)

Journal

Journal of Neurophysiology

Article Publication Date

20 Aug, 2026

DOI

10.1152/jn.00135.2026

URL

https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00135.2026

Statement

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (25702033, 26560282, and 24K14332). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

21 Aug, 2026