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The functional sophistication of the spinal cord can have devastating consequences. Will modern scientific developments replicate its functions?

The “central nervous system” delicately orchestrates the complex concerto of our mental and physical faculties, from perception through to action and all the intermediary processes in-between. Such functional sophistication is disturbed in spinal cord injury, which can have devastating short-term and long-term consequences, determined by the level and severity of the injury.

Polymerized estrogen shown to protect nervous system cells. Research could enable improved treatment of spinal cord injuries.

Spinal cord damage that causes paralysis and reduced mobility doesn’t always stop with the initial trauma, but there are few treatment options to halt increased deterioration — and there is no cure. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a promising new biomaterial that could offer targeted treatment to the damaged spinal cord and tissue, preventing further damage.

U.S. Department of Defense awards $800,000 to Case Western Reserve for spinal cord injury research

People who live with spinal injuries often say that the first year of recovery is the toughest—not only for them, but their caregivers as well.

“It is the little things – the sound of the lapping of water against the bottom of his board and seeing the beach from a different point of view – that Islander James Bedding misses the most about surfing.”

Since a freak accident 22 years ago, when 15-year-old James fell from a sea wall at the Harbour and suffered a serious spinal injury which left him quadriplegic, he has been confined to a wheelchair.

A tetraplegic is one who has suffered partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso.

Each year, it is estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 people worldwide suffer a spinal cord injury, and that 59 percent of those living with the injury are tetraplegic—experiencing the total loss of use of all four limbs and torso. Innovative research from Clinatec and the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) has resulted in a first for a tetraplegic patient. Using a four-limb exoskeleton controlled by a neuroprosthetic, he was able to walk and use his arms.

Players with quadriplegia are using neuroscience and video games to take on the world.

On a mostly sunny July afternoon in 2014, Chris Scott jumped out of a plane. For Scott, a thrill-seeking instructor at Skydive Long Island in New York, this wasn’t unusual. It wasn’t out of the norm for jumping partner Gary Messina, either. Known to friends as “Gary Go Hard,” the New York City corrections officer had been dropping out of planes since his teens.

It was, for Greg Traynor, a moment of revelation.

It was autumn, his favorite time of year. And he was in the woods, archery hunting, his most cherished outdoor activity among many.

The sun was shining on his face, the leaves were a fiery mix of reds and golds and oranges, turkeys and squirrels and birds bustled about. In a few moments, a white-tailed doe would appear, and he’d take it with one clean, perfectly-placed shot from his crossbow.

OLATHE, Kan. (KAKE) -A Kansas nonprofit is again going above and beyond for kids in wheelchairs this Halloween by creating custom costumes.WDAF reports Walkin’ and Rollin’s over-the-top designs stop people in their tracks. One of their latest was for an 11-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan from Eudora.

John Pittman now gets to cheer on his favorite team in his Arrowhead Stadium Halloween costume.

“To now be a part of this representation is really beautiful and overwhelming because I craved it so much when I was little.”

All eyes were on the stunning wedding dresses at New York Bridal Fashion Week, but there was one special moment that stole the show.

CLEVELAND — Ground-breaking, life-changing research is happening at MetroHealth Medical Center when it comes to spinal cord injuries and giving people function back.