Category Archives: Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

Welcome to Apparelyzed, a free spinal cord injury peer support website run by individuals with a spinal cord injury. Here you will find information on spinal cord injuries which has been submitted, and is discussed between the spinal cord injury community. Please use the links on the left of this page to navigate the website, and the section index below to navigate this page. We hope you find the website useful, and consider joining in on some of the discussions in the spinal cord injury forum. Spinal Cord Injury Homepage Quick Links What is a Spinal Cord Injury ? A spinal cord injury (SCI) is generally defined as damage or trauma to the spinal cord that results in a loss or impaired function. The paralysis from the damaged spinal cord may affect mobility, sensation, bladder function, bowel function or sexual function. When a person has been paralysed due to a spinal cord injury, paraplegic and quadriplegic (tetraplegic) are terms used to describe the resultant medical condition. The classification of spinal cord injury depends on the spinal cord injury level and severity of a persons paralysis, and how it affects their limbs. The spinal cord injury level is usually referred to … Continue reading →

Scientists continue to investigate new ways to better understand and treat spinal cord injuries. Much of this research is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Other NIH components, as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs, other Federal agencies, research institutions, and voluntary health organizations, also fund and conduct basic to clinical research related to improvement of function in paralyzed individuals. Many hospitals have developed specialized centers for spinal cord injury care. Many of these bring together spinal cord injury researchers from a variety of disciplines for partnerships regarding basic and clinical research, clinical care, and knowledge translation. Current research is focused on advancing our understanding of four key principles of spinal cord repair: Neuroprotectionprotecting surviving nerve cells from further damage Regenerationstimulating the regrowth of axons and targeting their connections appropriately Cell replacementreplacing damaged nerve or glial cells Retraining CNS circuits and plasticity to restore body functions A spinal cord injury is complex. Repairing it has to take into account all of the different kinds of damage that occur during and after the injury. Because the molecular and cellular environment of the spinal cord is constantly … Continue reading →

Balancing optimism with realism is a challenge that spinal-cord patients face the moment they regain consciousness. But there are encouraging signs a revolution in technology may speed the process of regaining mobility. Rapid advances in technology are hastening the spread of new, motion-based treatments for people paralyzed by spinal-cord injuries, raising their hopes of moving in ways they never dreamed would be possible again. Fast-improving, computer-assisted machines promise lighter and cheaper robotic walking suits, artificial limbs controlled by mere thought and wheelchairs that go upstairs, among other long-sought goals. The future holds promise in an area of research that has seen more than its share of failure and frustration. Helping fuel that optimism is locomotor treatment, which leading rehabilitation centers including Craig Hospital in Englewood are using to re-create walking motions by force until patients' spinal cords learn to control muscles. DENVER, CO. - AUGUST 21: After a morning workout at Craig Hospital Kyle Pearson talks with a new client while working in the lobby at the Marriott in the Denver Tech Center, Denver, CO August 21, 2013. He said being able to work gave him hope, "I realized you can still work, you can still live a normal life … Continue reading →

Balancing optimism with realism is a challenge that spinal-cord patients face the moment they regain consciousness. But there are encouraging signs a revolution in technology may speed the process of regaining mobility. Rapid advances in technology are hastening the spread of new, motion-based treatments for people paralyzed by spinal-cord injuries, raising their hopes of moving in ways they never dreamed would be possible again. Fast-improving, computer-assisted machines promise lighter and cheaper robotic walking suits, artificial limbs controlled by mere thought and wheelchairs that go upstairs, among other long-sought goals. The future holds promise in an area of research that has seen more than its share of failure and frustration. Helping fuel that optimism is locomotor treatment, which leading rehabilitation centers including Craig Hospital in Englewood are using to re-create walking motions by force until patients' spinal cords learn to control muscles. DENVER, CO. - AUGUST 21: After a morning workout at Craig Hospital Kyle Pearson talks with a new client while working in the lobby at the Marriott in the Denver Tech Center, Denver, CO August 21, 2013. He said being able to work gave him hope, "I realized you can still work, you can still live a normal life … Continue reading →

The minutes Jermichael Finley spent on the Lambeau Field turf on Oct. 20, after a collision with Cleveland Browns safety Tashaun Gipson, were a suspended surreality for the Green Bay Packers tight end, his teammates and the NFL community. Finley was taken off the field on a stretcher and spent the night in the ICU of a Green Bay hospital, before being diagnosed with a spinal cord contusion that is expected to heal. A week later, Finley describes in a first-person account for The MMQB what its like to confront the possibility that one play could change your life. By Jermichael Finley Is this God punishing me? Is this Karma? This was my initial thought when I was down on the field. I felt as if everything that I had ever done wrong came crashing down at me at that one moment. It all happened very quickly. I remember seeing the defender out of the corner of my eye, and I intentionally lowered my head and shoulders to protect my knees. After I got hit, in the fourth quarter of our win against the Browns last week, my eyes were wide open. I was very conscious, but I could not … Continue reading →

Locomotor therapies re-create and repeat the pattern of walking to train the spinal cord in functions formerly controlled by the brain. It's a declaration and a question, the first words on the lips of the newly injured after a spinal-cord accident. "I will walk again." "Will I walk again?" Whether that person will is the gap between hope and proof that has long defined research into recovering from spinal-cord injuries. An emerging treatment known as locomotor is narrowing that gap. The world of rehabilitation is turning quickly toward locomotor therapies, re-creating and repeating the pattern of walking to train the spinal cord in functions formerly controlled from the brain. For decades, scientists believed the spinal cord was merely a conduit, or highway, of messages running from the brain to organs, limbs and extremities. Animal research began to show that even some with completely severed spinal cords could be retrained for walking motions. Many researchers now believe the spinal cord has "central pattern generators" that can initiate movement on their own, not just pass on messages from elsewhere. The patients and therapists' job, then, is to program those processors with repeated walking patterns using locomotor training: first by weight-supported steps on … Continue reading →

Stay up-to-date with KAKE News: WICHITA, Kan. -- A Satanta High School football player is walking again after suffering a damaging injury on the field last month. Anthony Crump was severely hurt during a football game on Sept. 6. "Normally when Anthony goes down, he gets right back up, and he didn't get up," said Jeanette Crump, mother. The freshman was thrilled to play in the opening game of the football season. After executing a tackle on an opponent, the player landed on Anthony's neck. Doctors initially thought the teen would be paralyzed, but Anthony never wanted to believe it. "Felt like something was keeping me going and keeping me calm, and never allowed me to think like I wasn't going to walk again," said Anthony Crump. Staff at Wesley Medical Center said the teen promised them that he would walk again. This afternoon, he fulfilled that promise. "I made him make me a promise that he would walk back on to our unit, so this is going to be a very emotional time not only for me but I think for his family as well," said Kristi Froese, manager of the pediatrics unit. The 16-year-old has been rehabilitating at … Continue reading →

It is Day 1,097 since James Nall's right leg stopped listening to him. Nall sits on a couch just 10 feet from the stairway where he fell and broke his neck. Moving on from a devastating spinal-cord injury is even harder when, a dozen times a day, you pass the basement stairs that tripped you. And Nall is ready to move on. That's why he's yelling at the leg. "I hate you," he says, grabbing the thigh muscle and kneading it hard. "You'd think I'd have patience by now. But I do not." James Nall's therapists all know that if they ask him to do something 10 times, he'll do it 15. A crawling exercise in Craig Hospital's PEAK workout gym is his toughest task. "You gotta crawl before you can walk. I gotta retrain everything. I'm like a giant kid -- a big baby." (THE DENVER POST | Craig F. Walker) The thing is, his leg may finally be listening. And talking back. Months into in a new program at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Nall's body is responding. He has shuffled 310 feet in a gym using a walker and can stand on his own for five minutes at … Continue reading →

Video: Eliza Strickland & Celia Gorman. Footage: University of Louisville; Grgoire Courtine, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Spinal stimulation:In both animal and human experiments, researchers are using electricity to restore function to paralyzed lower limbs. Dustin Shillcox fully embraced the vast landscape of his native Wyoming. He loved snowmobiling, waterskiing, and riding four-wheelers near his hometown of Green River. But on 26 August 2010, when he was 26 years old, that active lifestyle was ripped away. While Shillcox was driving a work van back to the family store, a tire blew out, flipping the vehicle over the median and ejecting Shillcox, who wasnt wearing a seat belt. He broke his back, sternum, elbow, and four ribs, and his lungs collapsed. Photo: Greg Ruffing Patient No. 4:Dustin Shillcox volunteered to have electrodes and a pulse generator implanted in his spine. Through his five months of hospitalization, Shillcoxs family remained hopeful. His parents lived out of a camper theyd parked outside the Salt Lake City hospital where he was being treated so they could visit him daily. His sister, Ashley Mullaney, implored friends and family on her blog to pray for a miracle. She delighted in one of her first … Continue reading →

CREATED Oct. 22, 2013 GREEN BAY, Wis.--Jermichael Finley posted a cell video via Twitter Tuesday showing him up and walking. Its a good sign for a player who just suffered a serious spinal cord injury two days earlier. Dr. Tom Sylvester of Prevea Health says the early reports on Finley have been positive. Dr. Sylvester is an orthopedic spine surgeon who treats patients with a wide variety of spinal issues. He says several specialists will likely take a look at Finley before making a full diagnosis. "It sounds as though Jermichael Finely's injury doesn't involve any type of structural abnormalities or any type of instability which going forward is a good sign for him. The concern is what is the degree of his injury and are any of the results going to be permanent," Sylvester said. Physical therapist Nick Baudhuin works with patients recovering from spinal injuries. He says rehab time varies from case to case. "It depends on how much recovery he has in the first couple weeks after the injury you see the most recoveries that will be the best judge of how much function you will regain after the injury," Baudhuin said. Rehab from spinal injuries will … Continue reading →