Stem-Cell Tech Improves Spinal-Cord Injury

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) — A new stem-cell technology has allowed rats with spinal-cord injuries to walk again within two weeks, an advance that could one day help people with traumatic spinal-cord injuries.

The rats that were given immature immune system support cells, or astrocytes, experienced a 40-percent rise in nerve-fiber growth at the site of the injury in just eight days. Continue Reading »

Paralysis Cure Worth Waiting For

Every time I turn around I seem to read about some paralyzed person who’s traveled to a far-flung country for a miracle treatment not available in the United States. “I can now wiggle a toe! I’m improving!” they exclaim.

Meanwhile, I stay put in my wheelchair, albeit restlessly, in Charleston. Having been paralyzed from the shoulders down since suffering a C3 contusion injury to my neck in 1996, you might ask what the heck I’m waiting for. Am I a masochist? Possibly. But have you ever read a follow-up story about long-term Functional gains achieved by one of these treatments? If none come to mind, it’s not because you have a bad memory. Continue Reading »

Teen’s injury mirrors Reeve’s

Although his spinal cord injury is similar to that of Christopher Reeve, Ben Trockman has shown “phenomenal” strength, courage and attitude, his father said.

Trockman, 17, of Evansville, suffered a broken neck March 19 during a motorcycle crash in Poole, Ky. He now is in the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic-care Rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta. Continue Reading »

Stem cell implant is outside mainstream

SOUTH BEND — In his quest to help victims of spinal cord injury, Dr. Steven Hinderer admits he’s ventured outside the comfort zone of conventional wisdom and standard practice.

Hinderer, medical director of the Center for Spinal Cord Injury of the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, in Detroit, has developed an intense program of rehabilitation that goes far beyond the normal scope, both in the exertion it requires of patients and in its basic goals. Continue Reading »

Snowboarder’s recovery subject of Emmy-winning film

BRECKENRIDGE – Four years ago, Breckenridge competitive snowboarder Matt Wyffels was involved in a horrific snowboarding accident that left him completely paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors told him that he would live the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair.

Just recently, that same wheelchair was auctioned off on eBay. Thanks to a new Physical Therapy regimen, the Sit Tall Stand Tall program, Wyffels has not only gotten rid of his wheelchair, but is walking with only the aid of leg braces, which he hopes to shed as well sometime in the near future. Continue Reading »

Scotland gets landmark housing project for people with spinal injuries

The heads of two charitable organisations have come together to mark the start of a housing project to help people from across Scotland build new lives after spinal cord injury.

Margaret Blackwood Housing Association and ASPIRE – the Association for Spinal Injury Research Rehabilitation and Reintegration – will work together to provide suitably adapted housing and support that will aid recovery from the trauma resulting from spinal cord injury. Continue Reading »

Cooling Device Used To Help Spinal Cord Injuries

MIAMI, Fla. — Spinal cord injuries are very difficult to treat and many times, the damage is permanent. However, a new device helps the spine heal by cooling it down.

When police Officer Manuel Gomez fell from his police horse, he could not feel a thing below the neck.

“It’s incredible. I thought I was never going to walk again,” he said.

Gomez’s spinal cord was crushed, and Dr. Steve Vanni, of Jackson Memorial Hospital, said the paralysis could have been permanent. Continue Reading »

Illinois woman undergoes experimental stem-cell surgery in Portugal

Within weeks of experimental stem-cell surgery Oct. 29 in Portugal, Jacki Rabon – paralyzed from the waist down after an auto accident two years ago – was standing and walking in Detroit.

But metal braces and an aggressive Rehabilitation program in Michigan, not restoration of sensation in her legs, were what helped the 18-year-old take steps she hadn’t attempted since a rollover accident in August 2003. Continue Reading »

Restorative Therapies, Inc., Receives FDA Clearance for RT300-S Internet Connectivity

Restorative Therapies, Inc., a designer and supplier of medical devices, today announced FDA clearance of internet connectivity for its breakthrough medical device, the RT300-S, a Functional electrical stimulation (FES) motorized cycle ergometer.

(PRWEB) March 23, 2006 — Restorative Therapies, Inc., founded by John McDonald, MD, PhD, Lead Neurologist to the Late Christopher Reeve, Advances its New Era in Treatment for Neurological Injury and Paralysis. Continue Reading »

Study Finds Nerve Regeneration Possible in Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal Cord Injury Recovery

A team of scientists at UCSF has made a critical discovery that may help in the development of techniques to promote Functional recovery after a spinal cord injury.

By stimulating nerve cells in laboratory rats at the time of the injury and then again one week later, the scientists were able to increase the growth capacity of nerve cells and to sustain that capacity. Both factors are critical for nerve Regeneration. Continue Reading »