But experts note the technique might not work in humans

THURSDAY, May 31 (HealthDay News) — In research that hints at new ways to tackle paralysis, a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and “willpower-based training” prompted paralyzed rats to walk and even run.

But experts noted the treatment might not necessarily work in humans. Continue Reading »

Scientists discovered the role of a protein in the remarkable self-healing ability of the fish

Scientists have unlocked the secrets of the zebra fish’s ability to heal its spinal cord after injury, in research that could deliver therapy for paraplegics and quadriplegics in the future.

A team from Monash University’s Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI), led by Dr Yona Goldshmit and Professor Peter Currie, discovered the role of a protein in the remarkable self-healing ability of the fish. Continue Reading »

Ellen met two women from the cast of the new reality show, “Push Girls,” who explained how they don’t let life in a wheelchair keep them from accomplishing their goals. Continue Reading »

“Arise, take up thy bed,” Christ commanded a paralyzed man, according to the Gospel of Matthew. The man “arose and departed.” Healing a paralytic is miraculous… But it may soon become an everyday miracle of science, rather than a rare miracle of faith.

In April 2011, the Washington Post reported that the first patient to receive a human embryonic stem-cell treatment for paralysis from a spinal-cord injury had regained some feeling in his legs. Continue Reading »

Rick Hansen wrapped up the 25th anniversary of his Man in Motion tour when he rolled up for a special ceremony at BC Place in Vancouver at noon on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

25 years on, Man in Motion conquers Coquitlam’s Thermal Drive, again

The steepest hill on Rick Hansen’s 25th-anniversary relay tour was lined with thousands of onlookers as Hansen and his team of “difference makers” climbed the monstrous Thermal Drive that stretches from Port Moody into Coquitlam on Friday. Continue Reading »

Thirty Percent of Patients Show Improved Functioning after Stem Cell Therapy

Philadelphia, Pa. (May 17, 2012) – One of the first long-term studies of stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury shows significant functional and other improvements in three out of ten patients, reports a study in the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Continue Reading »

Rick Hansen says we’ll see a breakthrough in spinal cord injuries within 25 years, but it will be hard work — spurred on by innovations such as the Spinal Cord Registry

Twenty-five years ago, Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion team looked up Thermal Drive in Coquitlam and realized they’d made a mistake.

It was almost the end of Hansen’s epic round-the-world journey — within days of his finishing in Vancouver — and they had blithely drawn his route up a hill that from the bottom now seemed too steep, too tough, given the two gruelling years and two months Hansen had already put in. Continue Reading »

Surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have restored some hand function in a quadriplegic patient with a spinal cord injury at the C7 vertebra, the lowest bone in the neck. Continue Reading »

Surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have restored some hand function in a quadriplegic patient with a spinal cord injury at the C7 vertebra, the lowest bone in the neck. Instead of operating on the spine itself, the surgeons rerouted working nerves in the upper arms. These nerves still “talk” to the brain because they attach to the spine above the injury.

Following the surgery, performed at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and one year of intensive physical therapy, the patient regained some hand function, specifically the ability to bend the thumb and index finger. He can now feed himself bite-size pieces of food and write with assistance. Continue Reading »