Ramps are typically built in order to improve home accessibility for people who can’t use stairs or need a gentler, less stressful way to enter or leave their home. A successful home accessibility project requires careful planning in order to be certain that the ramp meets the home occupant’s needs, complies with local building requirements, is safe and sturdy, and is safe for use in all types of weather.

Consider the following before you begin the design and construction of a wheelchair ramp. Questions such as:

• Who’s the primary user?
• What type of assistive device does the person use (cane, crutches, walker, manual or electric wheelchair)
• Will the person’s abilities change?
• What are the local zoning requirements?

These are just a few of the questions that must be addressed before you begin your project. The following information should guide you in this process. Continue Reading »

Scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, have successfully bypassed the spinal cord and restored fine motor control to paralyzed limbs using a brain-computer interface.

The researchers have created a neuroprosthesis that combines a brain-computer interface (BCI) that’s wired directly into 100 neurons in the motor cortex of the subject, and a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device that’s wired into the muscles of the subject’s arm. When the subject tries to move his arm or hand, that cluster of around 100 neurons activates, creating a stream of data which can then be read and analyzed by the BCI to predict what muscles the subject is trying to move, and with what level of force. This interpreted data is passed to the FES, which then triggers the right muscles to perform the desired movement. Continue Reading »

Brief introduction of our upcoming “Life After Injury” Podcast Series. Continue Reading »

Meet Christopher Hills – a young boy who uses Apple products to edit videos. Christopher has Cerebral Palsy, which essentially makes it impossible for him to use a traditional computer setup. Continue Reading »

The AbleGamers Foundation’s Mark Barlet is the winner of the 2012 Paul G. Hearne Award from AAPD. This is the video that was shown at the awards dinner. Continue Reading »

Electric underwear might sound like a provocative burlesque act, but a Canadian team of researchers have created a pair of pants that deliver a mild electrical current to the wearer’s backside every 10 minutes in order to prevent bedsores. Continue Reading »

Gatehouse Custom Access Ramp System offers a simple, stylish, easy-to-install product to make homes more accessible

MOORESVILLE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Lowe’s, the world’s second-largest home improvement retailer, announced today at the International Builders’ Show its entrance into the do-it-yourself ramp market, with an affordable, configurable ramp system. The Gatehouse Custom Access Ramp System makes accessibility attractive and easy as life’s needs change. The program will be available to consumers in Lowe’s stores and on Lowes.com in spring 2012. Continue Reading »

Sandra Burton would never feel the wrenching labour pains signaling her twin girls were ready to come into the world.

It was one of the many risks of her pregnancy, and the one that most worried her doctors and kept her husband awake at night.

Burton is quadriplegic.

An accident 20 years ago cost her the use of her legs and left her with minimal use of her arms. She has little sensation from the chest down.

It is rare for a quadriplegic woman to have a child. It is extraordinarily rare — and potentially life-threatening — for a quadriplegic woman to give birth to twins. Continue Reading »

Spinal-cord injuries, such as those suffered recently by two Minnesota high school hockey players, are rare but more likely to occur among teenagers.

Spinal-cord injuries, such as those suffered recently by two Minnesota high school hockey players, are rare but more likely to occur among teenagers.

Between 1993 and 2011, about 60 Minnesota high school athletes were treated in hospitals for varying degrees of spinal-cord injuries. Among victims of sports-related spinal-cord injuries in Minnesota, about half were ages 14 to 19. Continue Reading »

Longwood, FL – The music plays an upbeat song in the background that is almost in rhythm with the gliding motion of the latest in functional electrical stimulation (FES) technology. Dana Guest, a client at the Center Of Recovery & Exercise (CORE), is breathing heavy as she moves past the six mile mark, but smiling.

“I love the way it makes me feel. My heart is pounding and I’m even sweating a little! It’s the closest I’ve been to running in 11 years,” said Guest, who sustained a spinal cord injury resulting in paralysis in a motor vehicle accident in 2000. Continue Reading »