Metro Cinema at Garneau hosted free showing of French film The Intouchables to help inform about medical science

More than 400 Edmontonians dropped in for a free movie and popcorn served with a side of neuroscience at the Garneau Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 16.

Its a perfect geek date, said Danica Wolkow, a provincial co-ordinator with Alberta Innovates Health Solutions in charge of organizing Science in the Cinema, an initiative that uses film to get the public engaged in science.

Thursdays screening played the popular French film The Intouchables, directed by Oliver Nakache and Eric Toledano, where an aristocrat who became quadriplegic after a paragliding accident finds a renewed sense of life after injury thanks to an unlikely caretaker from the projects.

Hosted by Karim Fouad, a professor with the University of Albertas faculty of Rehabilitative Medicine, the film served as an uplifting tale of thriving after a spinal cord injury, as medical science has little to offer yet in the way of rehabilitation.

We are still very limited in what we can do for a patient like this, said Fouad, who emphasized that while research is progressing, there is no magic bullet for patients paralyzed by spinal cord injury.

The U of A is home to North Americas only free-standing faculty of Rehabilitative Medicine and has received international acclaim for advances in treatment options for spinal cord injuries.

Recent innovations and projects include the Smart-e-pants, which simulate how able-bodied persons make minuscule movements and adjustments when sitting or lying down to keep blood flowing, helping reduce the risk of pressure ulcers or bedsoresthat can pose significant health risks to patients with reduced mobility.

Meanwhile, researchers with the university invented the science behind state-of-the-art robotic arms that provide the sensation of touch and position, as well as developing micro-scale devices that interact with the spinal cord and have the potential to restore a paralyzed patients ability to walk or stand on robotic legs.

But while these developments are impressive, Fouad warns there is a huge difference between something that works in theory or in the laboratory and something that is ready to be applied bedside.

Science is not necessarily always a step forward, said Fouad, citing early research that focused almost solely on reconstruction to restore a patient to their pre-injury condition through drastic intervention without understanding the full complexities of the nervous system.

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Metro Cinema at Garneau hosted free showing of French film The Intouchables to help inform about medical science