An Able Flight participant will get to check two items off his bucket list after completing the program at Purdue.

In 2009, Steven Scott, from Poway, Calif., sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident that left him paralyzed. After, he created a list of items he wanted to complete during his life – skydive, scuba dive, show his daughter the exotic places he has lived and get his sport pilot certificate. Continue Reading »

Buz Straw’s dreams of fatherhood were shattered – just like his neck and spinal cord – when the front-end loader he was operating tipped over the second storey of Vancouver’s Woodward’s building as it was being demolished.

Although he regained some mobility while spending six “excruciating, frustrating, emotional” months at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, Straw had to accept his new life as a quadriplegic. Whether he would ever have children, or even a wife, seemed doubtful to the man who was only 24 at the time of the accident. Continue Reading »

NEW BRUNSWICK — Eric LeGrand’s story of perseverence from a paralyzing spinal cord injury already has touched millions across the world, and now it will be detailed in book form.

HarperCollins Publishers on Tuesday announced it has signed a two-book deal with LeGrand, who shares his uplifting story of how he found purpose in pain and overcame setbacks with strength. Continue Reading »

UCLA study shows omega-3 fatty acid and curry spice repair tissue damage, preserve walking in rats with spinal-cord injury

UCLA researchers discovered that a diet enriched with a popular omega-3 fatty acid and an ingredient of curry spice preserved walking ability in rats with spinal-cord injury. Published June 26 in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, the findings suggest that these dietary supplements help repair nerve cells and maintain neurological function after degenerative damage to the neck. Continue Reading »

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Lyrica for the management of neuropathic pain associated with chronic, debilitating spinal cord injuries. Lyrica, the brand name for pregabalin, is manufactured by Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and is already widely used to treat fibromyalgia pain.

According to Pfizer, about 40 percent of the 270,000 Americans with spinal cord injuries suffer from chronic neuropathic pain that they describe as severe or excruciating. An estimated 12,000 new spinal cord injury patients are diagnosed in the U.S.each year. Continue Reading »

Frank Reynolds, of InVivo Therapeutics (NVIV), says the company is on the verge of unprecedented technology for the treatment of the spinal cord. The Massachusetts-based medical device company is developing regenerative and neuroprotective technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. It is the first company in history to successfully demonstrate functional improvement in a paralyzed non-human primate.

Below OneMedRadio interviews Reynolds where he speaks candidly about his own injury rendering him a paraplegic, and the passion behind his work. Reynolds will be presenting InVivo’s technology at OneMedForum New York on July 12, 2012. Continue Reading »

In the tough times this country is currently navigating, there are plenty of tales of woe and despair to go around.

However, there are certain inspirational people who somehow manage to rise above the obstacles thrown at them with grace, toughness, and unbelievable courage, turning almost unimaginable adversity into incredible inspiration. Call it the triumph of the American spirit.

My old friend Mark Stephan is the personification of such triumph. Five years ago, a morning bike ride turned into a disaster when the front wheel of Mark’s bike fell off, hurtling him head first into the pavement, instantly leaving him a quadriplegic after suffering the same type of neck injury as the late actor Christopher Reeve. The initial prognosis was grim. Continue Reading »

Morphine administered to those with spinal cord injuries can slow the recovery of locomotor function, increase tissue loss and even produce symptoms of increased pain in chronic sufferers, according to a Texas A&M associate research professor.

Michelle Hook’s research uses rats with spinal cord injuries to see how they recover with varying doses of self-administered morphine. Continue Reading »

Scripps Ranch High School Senior Patrick Ivison Paralyzed 17 Years Ago

SAN DIEGO — A Scripps High School senior who was left paralyzed for 17 years walked at his graduation ceremony on Tuesday.

For the last three years, Patrick Ivison has undergone six hours per day of intense physical therapy in hopes that he would walk to his diploma on the day of his high school graduation.

“There’s always that like, oh, I’ve got you know, all of America expecting me to get through this,” he said. Continue Reading »

Crash! The sound of metal hitting metal reverberates around the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Most people only ever visit here if they are unfortunate enough to have suffered a spinal injury. I can hardly complain. I am merely being beaten up by a man with one leg and no mercy.

People tend to do a double-take when they first encounter the phrase “wheelchair rugby”. That is the sport’s sanitised name – until a makeover it was called “murderball”.

Think wheelchair basketball, but without the baskets. The four players on each side must merely propel the ball from one end of the court to the other, but with one crucial difference: attempted murder. Continue Reading »