Treatment of patients with degenerative diseases of the central nervous system by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord.

Patients with dystonia, spinocerebellar and cerebellar ataxia and spasmodic torticollis have a reasonable chance of being significantly aided in their control of motor function and neurogenic bladder by electrical stimulation of the cervical or thoracic spinal cord. This mode of therapy has the advantages that it is not destructive of neurological tissue, effects can be varied by altering the intensity and rate of the stimulus and preliminary testing with externalization of the electrodes is predictive of the effects of chronic stimulation.