The quest for treatments for motor neurone disease, spinal cord injury and strokes could be helped by new research that shows how key cells are produced.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have been able to manipulate the production of motor neurones – which control all muscle activity – in zebrafish.

Zebrafish are important in helping scientists understand how motor neurones are produced, because unlike mammals, they are able to create new motor neurones as adults. Continue Reading »

ISLAMABAD: Disability is in the environment, not the person. “These customised wheelchairs that we have received today will bridge the gap between the differently-abled and the constricted environment.” These words reflect the morale of 22-year old Sumaya Ilyas, who lost her legs to polio at age two. She was talking to The Express Tribune at a media briefing on the distribution of customised wheelchairs in Pakistan by Walkabout Foundation at Marriott Hotel on Sunday.

The wheelchairs Illyas was referring to were provided by Walkabout Foundation in collaboration with the Mahvash and Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation, JS Bank and the Special Talent Exchange Programme. Continue Reading »

With research offering promise, the focus of treatment has changed.

Brendan Loney can’t move his legs, but once a week, he sure does run.

Suspended by a harness from the ceiling at Courage Center in Golden Valley, the 23-year stares ahead at a mirror while two therapists move his stocky legs across a treadmill. A third therapist straddles the treadmill and keeps Loney balanced. A fourth controls the machine and rotates in when the others get tired.

For Loney, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a 2009 diving accident, the exhausting “locomotor” therapy serves several purposes. It helps his body fight infections. It keeps his muscles strong. Continue Reading »

VANCOUVER — Marni Abbott-Peter has won three gold medals over years of playing basketball around the globe.

It wasn’t until she got out of the game that she realized keeping her heart in good shape would feel like jumping through hoops.

The 46-year-old retired Paralympic athlete has used a wheelchair since crushing her spine in a downhill skiing accident at age 18. Continue Reading »

‘Timing for a spinal cord injury matters,’ Toronto head of North American study says

Timing appears to be everything when it comes to surgery to help people who have suffered an upper spinal cord injury that can lead to quadriplegia, researchers say.

A Canadian-U.S. study of patients with trauma to the cervical spinal cord found that those who had decompression surgery within 24 hours of the injury had twice the chance of improved neurological recovery compared to those who had to wait longer for their operation. Continue Reading »

Get Up Stand Up…to raise money, raise awareness and raise the voices of the spinal cord injury community for a cure…so they can Get Up and Stay Up Continue Reading »

Newswise — Loss of bone density leads to brittle bones that fracture easily. It is a major complication of spinal cord injury (SCI), which affects about 250,000 Americans every year.

A new clinical trial conducted by University of Iowa researchers shows that delivering high doses of “load,” or stress, to bone through programmed electrical stimulation of the muscle significantly slows the loss of bone density in patients with SCI. Continue Reading »

Tim Rushby-Smith became paralysed and a parent at the same time. Six years later, he writes about his life as a wheelchair-using dad of two.

It is impossible to separate the birth of our daughter from my spinal cord injury six years ago.

When I fell from a tree and broke my back, my wife Penny was five months pregnant. The imminent arrival of our first child was an ever-present focus during my rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville. As I struggled to come to terms with life as a wheelchair user and the other challenges that go with being paralysed from the waist down, I was aware that the clock was ticking. Continue Reading »

They are the rabbits to chase in any race.

On Sunday, more than a dozen members of the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group will compete in Fort Lauderdale’s A1A Marathon in the handcrank wheelchair division.

“We want to reach people, especially when they’re newly injured, to show them that life isn’t over,” said Rob Bereolos, president of the Sunrise support group.

We highlight four of the 200 members who found healing and hope during their monthly meetings at HealthSouth Sunrise. Continue Reading »

Investigational Studies Completed: All Paraplegic Patients Walked During First Session

BERKELEY, CA, Feb 15, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Ekso Bionics today announced that the first commercial unit of its Ekso exoskeleton was delivered yesterday, on February 14, to Craig Hospital in Denver. Ekso is a wearable robot that powers paraplegics up, enabling them to stand and walk. In addition — working together with top rehabilitation centers in the U.S. — Ekso Bionics just completed a ten-month Investigational Study of Ekso that entailed reciprocal information sharing and learning, training, as well as the definition of clinical protocols. Delivery of Eksos — beginning with Ekso Bionics’ Charter Rehabilitation Centers — will take place over the course of the next three months. Continue Reading »