Respiratory complications are the major cause of death for people with spinal cord injuries. People with a high level spinal cord injury are 150 times more likely to die from pneumonia than the general population. This is because after high level spinal cord injury, people have a reduced ability to cough and to clear secretions from the lungs. The major group of muscles that produce a cough are the abdominal muscles. If the abdominal muscles are paralysed after spinal cord injury then the strength of the cough will be severely reduced. In our lab, we are looking at ways to improve cough in people with spinal cord injury by using surface functional electrical stimulation of the abdominal muscles. We have shown that this type of stimulation can improve cough significantly. We are now looking for ways to further improve cough through muscle training as well as ways to develop a portable stimulator that would allow independent activation of a cough.