Research Seeks Cure For Central Pain Syndrome

Those with spinal cord injuries, who have multiple sclerosis, or who’ve suffered a stroke are also often diagnosed with central pain syndrome.

It’s a harsh reality for people with debilitating conditions like spinal cord injury or stroke.

Many of them live with chronic, excruciating pain.

Kellye Lynn reports research is underway in Baltimore which could someday end the suffering for patients with central pain syndrome.

Patients who have the condition say it feels like being stabbed with a thousand burning knives. Continue Reading »

Pharmacological Management of Hemodynamic Complications Following Spinal Cord Injury

The damage from primary and secondary insults of spinal cord injury can result in various hemodynamic alterations. It is important to understand the presentation and time course of these changes, in addition to the management of each, to avoid further clinical deterioration and complications.

Traumatic spinal cord injury has an incidence of 10,000 cases per year with a prevalence of approximately 200,000 people in the United States.1 These numbers do not account for deaths in the field, which are estimated to occur in 16% to 30% of these cases. The patient demographics mirror that of the general trauma population with the average age around 30 years and a male predominance. Although motor vehicle collisions account for roughly half of all spinal cord injury cases, other events including assaults, falls, work-place injuries, and sporting accidents account for a large portion of the rest.2
Pathophysiology Continue Reading »

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Chronic Pain Study

If you experience chronic nerve pain a year or more following a SCI you may be eligibe to participate in a 5-month clinical study sponsored by Pfizer of an investigational medication. The goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the study medication in relieving chronic nerve pain associated with SCI. Participants may receive study-related physical and neurological examinations, electrocardiograms, and laboratory tests at no cost, plus compensation for their time. Transportation will be provided, or travel costs will be reimbursed. Most important, your participation may help others by contributing to research that may lead to improved treatments. Continue Reading »

Brain, spinal cord injury patients in Alberta test devices to restore movement

People with brain or spinal cord injuries in Alberta are testing new technologies designed to improve their lives by restoring movement.

Scientists, biomedical engineers, physicians and nurses from Edmonton and Calgary who are working to make paralyzed muscles move will receive $5 million over the next five years from the Alberta Heritage Foundation and the province.

On Monday, Darryl Steeles, who has multiple sclerosis, used a device that works with a leg brace to help him to walk. Electrodes in the device kick his nervous system back into high gear after nine years of destruction from the disease. Continue Reading »

Spinal patient spins a comeback

Therapy “a 24/7 job”: Ten years after a skiing accident, Leah Potts stays driven.

Ten years ago, Leah Potts was a patient at Craig Hospital, after a skiing accident that broke her neck and damaged her spinal cord. The first doctors she saw warned her she might never walk again.

Today, Potts teaches Spinning, the popular and intense indoor group bicycling class. The Aspen resident can walk (with a cane). She skis again (with outriggers). And she blogs about her progress at leahpotts.com.

“I remember lying there in bed at the beginning,” she said. “I remember lying there thinking, ‘OK, this doesn’t sound too good. I have two choices: Lie here and cry about it, or get up and do something about it.’ I was 23 years old. I’d just graduated from college. I felt like my life was just beginning.” Continue Reading »

Learning to live a new kind of life

Gothenburg teen with spinal cord injury learns about change

She’s paralyzed from her belly button to her toes but Aubrey Freeze was more than ready to return home.

After spending more than three months in hospitals, the Gothenburg High School senior was released from Craig Hospital in Denver, CO, on April 1.

“I’m doing good now that I’m home,” she said. Continue Reading »

Injured hockey player, Derek Zike, recovering well

Ann Arbor — Derek Zike and his family do not shy from stating the truth.

Derek’s life will never be “normal” again.

But normal is a subjective term.

Derek, 17, is working out his version, trying to create a world as close to the one he knew before the evening of Jan. 16, when he suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed while playing in a hockey tournament at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor. Continue Reading »

Back, Neck and Spine Injuries Stemming from Auto Accidents

– Recent estimates released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration state that approximately 80 injuries are sustained per 100 miles traveled. –

Everyday, car and truck accidents cause injuries well beyond bruises or broken bones. Recent estimates released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration state that approximately 80 injuries are sustained per 100 miles traveled. In the past few years, this resulted in over 2.4 million injuries, some of them serious enough to be life changing. A significant percentage of these injuries involved the neck, back or spinal cord of the accident victims. Continue Reading »

Campaigning for Stem Cells

Brooke Ellison speaks about the controversial issue of stem cell research.

At 11 years old, Brooke Ellison was just like any other kid. She danced, she sang and she enjoyed playing in her neighborhood with her friends. That is until her life changed in an instant. “One day I’m walking home from school, anxious to play with my friends, and the next I’m confined to a wheelchair, breathing with the help of a tube,” says Ellison, now 30, of the car accident that ended with a one-year hospital stay from a spinal cord injury. It is then that she decided that she would become an advocate for stem cell research, “I wanted to help further the issue in any way that I could.” Continue Reading »

Stem Cell Administration Study Demonstrates Improved Quality Of Life For Patients Suffering From Spinal Cord Injury

DaVinci Biosciences, in collaboration with Luis Vernaza Hospital in Ecuador, have announced the publication of study results demonstrating the safety and feasibility of its acute and chronic spinal cord injury treatment platform in Cell Transplantation, a peer-reviewed journal focused on regenerative medicine. The study demonstrates that administering adult autologous bone marrow derived stem cells via multiple routes is feasible, safe, and most importantly, improves the quality of life for both acute and chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. Continue Reading »