Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

WFL MOTIONFIT Earthforlife spinal cord injury treatment research project. By: gnioco … Continue reading →

Spinal cord injury survivor Dustin Shillcox moves his toes with new SCI treatment. For people with spinal cord injuries, something as small as the wiggle of a toe can seem a miracle. So imagine the excitement when a research project involving the application of electrical stimulation to broken spinal cords unexpectedly enabled a spinal cord injury survivor to voluntarily wiggle his toes. Imagine what this may bode one day for hundreds of people paralyzed in car accidents and other serious traumas who may one day regain movement. Neuroscientist Susan Harkema of the University of Louisville said her research project was meant to learn more about nerve pathways, not to actually make patients move. Over the past five years, her team has applied e-stim to four paralyzed men, and they all development substantial movement, including wiggling their toes, lifting and swinging their legs, moving their ankles and sitting up without support. Two patients can even do sit ups. Take a look at this video from CNN, which shows Dustin Shillcox, a paralyzed man, move his leg with Harkemas treatment: You can read about this groundbreaking study, which is being funded in part by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation in Brain: … Continue reading →

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A novel combination of electrical stimulation and physical rehabilitation has restored some measure of limb control to 4 patients who were paralyzed following spinal cord injuries. Experts from the National Institutes of Health discuss the breakthrough in the journal Brain. In 2009, 16 electrodes were attached to the injured spine of 1 paraplegic patient. Electric pulse stimulation was then paired with an assisted exercise program. Within 7 months, a man with zero movement and only limited sensation below his chest regained a significant degree of leg control demonstrating an ability to stand, without help, for up to 4 minutes. How? The investigators think the treatment may somehow reawaken brain-body connections that remain dormant, but intact, even after serious injury. The same approach has since been tried with 3 more paraplegic patients. Within days, all regained some voluntary control of their lower limbs an achievement that could dramatically change the way spinal cord injuries are handled going forward. I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the news the doctors are reading health news for healthier living. Read the rest here: New Treatment for Spinal Cord Injuries: MedlinePlus Health ... … Continue reading →

COURTESY OF THE RECOVERY PROJECT Polly Swingle helped Charles Parkhill come back from a spinal cord injury. Today, they're in business together as The Recovery Project and facing the challenge of how to expand into new markets. The Recovery Project LLC was born out of adversity. Its founders met when one of them, Charles Parkhill, injured his spinal cord when a wave hit him just the wrong way off a beach in Mexico in 1998, leaving him unable to move from the neck down. He made progress working with a Detroit Medical Center physical therapist, Polly Swingle, and in 2003 the two formed the business to help others with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. In 2005, Parkhill took his first unassisted steps since the accident -- he now uses a wheelchair and can walk short distances. By 2012, the company had reached $2.3 million in revenue. Problem: After some years in business, The Recovery Project faced more adversity, albeit of a more routine variety and one that all second-stage businesses face: the need to enter new markets to keep the enterprise growing. Parkhill and Swingle saw their business missing out on a big market in the elderly population. "One … Continue reading →

Four men who had each been paralyzed from the chest down for more than two years and been told their case was hopeless regained the ability to voluntarily move their legs and feet - though not to walk - after an electrical device was implanted in their spines. The success, in a few patients, offers hope that a new treatment can help many of the 6 million paralyzed Americans, including the 1.3 million with spinal-cord injuries. Even those deemed so hopeless they are not offered rehabilitation might benefit, scientists say. The results also cast doubt on a key tenet of care: that it requires damaged neurons to regrow or be replaced with stem cells. Both have proven elusive. "People with spinal-cord injury of the type these men had no longer need to think they have a lifelong sentence of paralysis," said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, which partly funded the study. "They can achieve some level of voluntary function," which he called "a milestone." The partial recoveries suggest that doctors may be mistakenly giving up on millions of paralyzed people. That's because physical therapy can mimic aspects of the device's electrical stimulation, … Continue reading →

Four paralysed men have been able to move their legs for the first time in years after electrical stimulation of their spinal cords, US doctors report. They were able to flex their toes, ankles and knees - but could not walk independently. A report, in the journal Brain, suggests the electricity makes the spinal cord more receptive to the few messages still arriving from the brain. Experts said it could become a treatment for spinal injury. The spinal cord acts like a high-speed rail line carrying electrical messages from the brain to the rest of the body. But if there is any damage to the track, then the message will not get through. People with spinal cord injuries can lose all movement and sensation below the injury. Zap A team at the University of Louisville and the University of California have been pioneering electrical stimulation of the spinal cord below the injury. Three years ago they reported that Rob Summers - a keen baseball player who was paralysed from the chest down in a hit-and-run car accident - was able to move his legs while supported on a treadmill. Now three more patients, who had been paralysed for at least … Continue reading →

A report that four young men who are paralyzed below the waist were able to move toes, ankles or knees when their lower spine was electrically stimulated was hailed as a breakthrough. But it's hard not to be skeptical about anything labeled a medical breakthrough these days, and that's especially true when it comes to spinal cord regeneration, which has seen more than its share of hype. For the quarter of a million people with spinal cord injuries, dashed hopes can be devastating. A treatment or cure for spinal cord injury remains elusive, but the study by researchers at the University of Louisville appears to add important information: Even a very weak signal from the brain can trigger movement. To figure out what this means, we talked it over with John Donoghue, director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science and leader of the BrainGate II project, which in 2012 made it possible for two people immobilized by strokes to control a robotic arm with their thoughts. He wasn't involved in the Louisville research. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. When a spinal cord is severed, that causes paralysis. There have been decades of efforts to bridge … Continue reading →

Watch above: Researchers astonished themselves with the results of a new strategy to awaken nerves in patients who have been paralyzed for years. Robin Stickley reports. LONDON Three years ago, doctors reported that zapping a paralyzed mans spinal cord with electricity allowed him to stand and move his legs. Now theyve done the same with three other patients, suggesting their original success was no fluke. Experts say its a promising development but warn that the experimental treatment isnt a cure. When the implanted device is activated, the men can wiggle their toes, lift their legs and stand briefly. But they arent able to walk and still use wheelchairs to get around. There is no miracle cure on the way, said Peter Ellaway, an emeritus professor of physiology at Imperial College London, who had no role in the study. But this could certainly give paralyzed people more independence and it could still be a life-changer for them. In a new study published Tuesday in the British journal Brain, researchers gave an update on Rob Summers, of Portland, Oregon, the first to try the treatment, and described successful results for all three of the other men who have tried it. All had … Continue reading →

Three years ago, doctors reported that zapping a paralysed man's spinal cord with electricity allowed him to stand and move his legs. Now they've done the same with three other patients, suggesting their original success was no fluke. Experts say it's a promising development but warn that the experimental treatment isn't a cure. When the implanted device is activated, the men can wiggle their toes, lift their legs and stand briefly. But they aren't able to walk and still use wheelchairs to get around. "There is no miracle cure on the way," said Peter Ellaway, an emeritus professor of physiology at Imperial College London, who had no role in the study. "But this could certainly give paralysed people more independence and it could still be a life-changer for them." In a new study published Tuesday in the British journal Brain, researchers gave an update on Rob Summers, of Portland, Oregon, the first to try the treatment, and described successful results for all three of the other men who have tried it. All had been paralysed from below the neck or chest for at least two years from a spinal cord injury. Advertisement The study's lead author, Claudia Angeli of the … Continue reading →