Yearly Archives: 2015
UW center receives $16M to develop technology that helps paralyzed patients move again
Imagine a future when people who have been paralyzed can move their arms and legs again.
Researchers at the University of Washington aren’t just imagining that day. With a new $16 million grant, they’re developing technology that could reanimate paralyzed limbs in the not too distant future.
The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, a UW-led effort that includes researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, San Diego State University and other partners, is developing implantable devices that can send signals between regions of the brain or nervous system that have been disconnected due to injury.
Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, from Olympian to paraplegic to inspiration
Even when life becomes too hectic for Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, she finds a way to progress in her spinal cord rehabilitation.
For 2 ½ months, she was traveling so extensively for speaking engagements that her weekly work with physical therapist Al Biemond at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix had to be put on hold.
Thrust into a role as a spokeswoman for spinal cord injury research because of the fame that comes with six Olympic gold medals, Van Dyken-Rouen accepts her obligation to fly around the country — never easy or painless — to spread a message that many other paraplegics aren’t invited to deliver.
New beginning with wheelchair rugby
Nikhil Kumar Guptaa uses wheelchair rugby as a therapeutic tool and provides a transitional living program to quadriplegic patients
It is believed that to achieve success in life one needs to be physically and mentally fit. But Nikhil Kumar Guptaa’s inspiring story will tell you that the will to achieve is equally important along with strength. A software engineer by profession, Nikhil met with an accident that left him paralysed in 2008. His world almost came to a dead-end but he did not let his will to survive die. “The doctors told me that quadriplegic patients like me will always be dependent on others to do their day-to-day activities,” shares Nikhil.
Spinal injuries need the most care
In many road traffic accidents, the cervical spine (neck region) is injured, says spine surgeon V. Vinod.
When the vertebra is disturbed from its original position, it compresses the spinal cord. This renders the person quadriplegic (complete loss of movement of hands and legs and no sensation below the neck), the surgeon explains. The spinal cord is severed only when a bullet or a knife pierces through it.
The Year in Review: SCI Research Breakthroughs in 2015
As we cross the threshold into 2016, we are one step closer to our goal of finding a cure for paralysis.
Moving full speed ahead towards that goal, Conquer Paralysis Now compiled a brief retrospective. 2015 has been an incredible year for spinal cord injury research, with breakthroughs in a variety of potential treatments, on top of important strides made by individuals with SCI. Take a look at some key milestones from this past year and stay tuned for what’s to come in 2016. Happy New Year!
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Issues National Coverage Policy for ReWalk Robotics Exoskeleton Systems...
Landmark Policy Will Provide Veterans Across the U.S. with Access to Evaluation, Training and Supply of ReWalk Personal Systems
YOKNEAM ILIT, Israel and MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — ReWalk Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: RWLK) (“ReWalk”), the leading global exoskeleton developer and manufacturer, announced today that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) has issued a national policy for the evaluation, training and procurement of ReWalk Personal exoskeleton systems for all qualifying veterans across the United States.
Motor Improvement Seen in Patients with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury After Stem Cell Implantation
After six months, the patients in the StemCells, Inc. trial being conducted at University of Miami Hospital are demonstrating improvements in both strength and function. They are the first cohort in the Phase II pathway study, led by Allan D. Levi, M.D., Ph.D., professor and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which is measuring the effects of implanting stem cells in patients with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). The assessment of motor function involved using tests of dexterity and grip.
Levi, who is also Chief of Neurosurgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital, was the first investigator to perform a stem cell transplant into the chronically injured cervical spinal cord of a patient.
Artist, Painter and Paralyzed | Mariam Paré
Mariam Pare’ is a member of the Mouth & Foot Painting Artists Association
Paralyzed teen walks on legs he can’t feel
HOUSTON — Daquan Minor is a walking miracle — especially since he’s walking on legs and feet he can no longer feel.
Fighter aims to knock out paralysis
Boyd “the Rainmaker” Melson wants to deliver a knockout blow to paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries.
The current World Boxing Council United States Junior Middleweight champion, who donates all his prize winnings to spinal cord research, is many things: the grandson of Holocaust survivors, a West Point graduate who remains a captain in the Army reserves, and the founder of Team Fight to Walk.
On Dec. 7, at Baker’s Farm in East Brunswick, he spoke of his “passion” to an audience of health care professionals belonging to the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey.
