To date, new advances in technology have already shown the effectiveness of non-invasive brain stimulation and, in particular, of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in enhancing language recovery in post-stroke aphasia. More recently, it has been suggested that the stimulation over the spinal cord improves the production of words associated to sensorimotor schemata, such as action verbs. Here, for the first time, we present evidence that transpinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) combined with a language training is efficacious for the recovery from speech apraxia, a motor speech disorder which might co-occur with aphasia. In a randomized-double blind experiment, ten aphasics underwent five days of tsDCS with concomitant treatment for their articulatory deficits in two different conditions: anodal and sham. In all patients, language measures were collected before (T0), at the end (T5) and one week after the end of treatment (F/U). Results showed that only after anodal tsDCS patients exhibited a better accuracy in repeating the treated items. Moreover, these effects persisted at F/U and generalized to other oral language tasks (i.e. picture description, noun and verb naming, word repetition and reading). A further analysis, which compared the tsDCS results with those collected in a matched group of patients who underwent the same language treatment but combined with tDCS, revealed no differences between the two groups.

Given the persistency and severity of articulatory deficits in aphasia and the ease of use of tsDCS, we believe that spinal stimulation might result a new innovative approach for language rehabilitation.

迄今为止，技术的新进展已经证明了非侵入性脑刺激，特别是经颅直流电刺激 (tDCS) 在促进中风后失语症患者语言恢复方面的有效性。最近，有人建议对脊髓进行刺激可以改善与感觉运动图式相关的单词的产生，例如动作动词。在这里，我们首次提出证据表明，经脊髓直流电刺激 (tsDCS) 与语言训练相结合可有效恢复言语失用症，这是一种可能与失语症同时发生的运动性言语障碍。在一项随机双盲实验中，10 名失语症患者接受了 5 天的 tsDCS 治疗，同时在两种不同条件下对他们的发音障碍进行了治疗：阳极和假手术。在所有患者中，在治疗前 (T0)、结束时 (T5) 和治疗结束后一周 (F/U) 收集语言测量值。结果表明，只有在阳极 tsDCS 后，患者才能在重复治疗项目时表现出更好的准确性。此外，这些影响在 F/U 中持续存在并推广到其他口语任务（即图片描述、名词和动词命名、单词重复和阅读）。进一步的分析将 tsDCS 结果与在接受相同语言治疗但结合 tDCS 的匹配组患者中收集的结果进行比较，显示两组之间没有差异。这些影响在 F/U 中持续存在并推广到其他口语任务（即图片描述、名词和动词命名、单词重复和阅读）。进一步的分析将 tsDCS 结果与在接受相同语言治疗但结合 tDCS 的匹配组患者中收集的结果进行比较，显示两组之间没有差异。这些影响在 F/U 中持续存在并推广到其他口语任务（即图片描述、名词和动词命名、单词重复和阅读）。进一步的分析将 tsDCS 结果与在接受相同语言治疗但结合 tDCS 的匹配组患者中收集的结果进行比较，显示两组之间没有差异。

鉴于失语症中发音功能障碍的持续性和严重性以及 tsDCS 的易用性，我们相信脊柱刺激可能会为语言康复带来一种新的创新方法。