Monthly Archives: February 2017

Patients suffering from complete spinal cord injuries have little to no treatment options that provide meaningful improvement in patient outcomes.

Cambridge, Mass.-based InVivo Therapeutics is trying to change that. Co-founded in 2005 by MIT professor Robert Langer, and surgeon-scientists Joseph Vacanti, M.D., the company has developed a small, bioresorbable and biocompatible device called the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, to help patients with complete thoracic spinal cord injuries regain some function.

The incredible 2+ months of #ThisIsHowI photos and videos has shown us that this is what AbleThrive is all about. So rather than end the campaign, we’re baking it into our culture to continue to bring awareness and visibility to the lives and abilities of people with disabilities around the world. This is how we shatter stereotypes and show what’s possible- so we hope you’ll keep sharing your photos and videos and tag us moving forward.

In a Stanford-led research report, three participants with movement impairment controlled an onscreen cursor simply by imagining their own hand movements.

A clinical research publication led by Stanford University investigators has demonstrated that a brain-to-computer hookup can enable people with paralysis to type via direct brain control at the highest speeds and accuracy levels reported to date.

Urgent medical attention is critical to minimize the effects of any head or neck trauma.

MAYWOOD, IL –  Paralysis is just one of the many serious health problems faced by patients who suffer spinal cord injuries.

Spinal cord patients also are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease; pneumonia; life-threatening blood clots; bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction; constipation and other gastrointestinal problems; pressure ulcers; and chronic pain, according to a report published in the journal Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports.

Newly developed “glassy carbon” electrodes transmit more robust signals to restore motion in people with damaged spinal cords.

When people suffer spinal cord injuries and lose mobility in their limbs, it’s a neural signal processing problem. The brain can still send clear electrical impulses and the limbs can still receive them, but the signal gets lost in the damaged spinal cord.

Shepherd Center, in collaboration with MobileSmith, has developed a mobile app called SCI-Ex to promote fitness for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The app, which is available for both Apple and Android devices, provides video demonstrations with detailed descriptions of proper equipment use, accurate transfer methods and adaptive exercise techniques.

“There is some information online and still photos of exercises, but until now, there have not been any user-friendly, in-depth videos of exercises for people with spinal cord injury,” said Nicholas Evans, one of the lead exercise specialists at Shepherd Center. “SCI-Ex doesn’t just present exercises, but incorporates the proper techniques to use assistive devices, proper transferring methods, and how to manage those methods and/or devices in a facility.”

A UCLA professor is helping paralyzed individuals regain use of their limbs through electric stimulation of the spinal cord.

In 2015, Reggie Edgerton, the director of the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at UCLA, developed a robotic exoskeleton that helped a paralyzed man walk. Though the man is still paralyzed and cannot control the exoskeleton’s movement, Edgerton’s lab plans to do more research to make that happen.

GlassOuse is the assistive device which lets disabled people control their computer, tablet, mobile phone, tv via head movements.

Anyone can use GlassOuse to control devices HANDS FREE, especially people who are not able to use hands.

GlassOuse is a device developed for people with disabilities to control technology HANDS FREE. GlassOuse involves complex features such as 9 Axis gyroscope and smart battery. To use: simply connect via Bluetooth to device, control cursor via head movements and bite to make a click.