Oxygen Treatment May Help Some With Spinal Cord Injuries: Study

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Published: November 27, 2013 4:35 PM By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter

Breathing treatments that provide low levels of oxygen may help people with certain types of spinal cord injuries walk longer distances at faster speeds, new Canadian research indicates.

After the low-oxygen treatment, people with less severe spinal cord injuries were able to walk approximately 33 feet about four seconds faster than those on a placebo treatment. They also were able to increase the distance they could walk in six minutes by about 328 feet.

"The rehabilitation world after a spinal cord injury can be frustrating and limited," said study author Randy Trumbower, an assistant professor in the division of physical therapy at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. "After the first year, it's a lifelong journey to overcome their diagnosis. Someone may be able to cross the street right now, but can they do it in enough time? Or someone might be able to get to the grocery store, but do they have the endurance to shop?"

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"We wanted to find a treatment that could provide incremental changes for those with incomplete spinal cord injuries to allow them to do these things," Trumbower said.

Results of the study were published online Nov. 27 in the journal Neurology.

Almost two-thirds of spinal cord injuries are what is known as incomplete, according to background information in the study. This means some nerve connections are still intact. They may not function as they used to, but they are not completely severed.

Because some connections remain, someone with an incomplete spinal injury may still be able to walk, but not in the same way they could before the injury. People with incomplete injuries often have to rely on canes, braces and wheelchairs to get around.

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Oxygen Treatment May Help Some With Spinal Cord Injuries: Study