Daily Archives: May 11, 2018
The Risk of Sleep Apnea for Quadriplegics
Not sleeping well? A new study shows more than 70 percent of people with quadriplegia also have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
For many years, the N-ABLE team has heard stories about friends with quadriplegia who don’t sleep well at night or who only sleep a few hours a night. We wondered if there was a medical reason for this. As it turns out, there is.
A new study in The Journal of Physiology tries to show why more than 70 percent of people with quadriplegia also have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a medical condition that causes the upper airway to narrow and close repeatedly while people are asleep.
David’s Chair opens the way back into the outdoors
Casey Moore’s withered right hand pushes the small joystick that thrusts a special wheelchair down a TouVelle State Park trail, with the chair’s tracks carrying him over rocks and thick grass.
“It feels like I’m driving a mini tank,” Moore laughs.
He powers down a short embankment to experience something he hasn’t since a diving accident 18 years ago left him paralyzed from the chest down, with limited use of his arms and hands.
Taking Strides Toward Healing Spinal Cord Injuries
Patients with severe spinal cord injury (SCI) often experience chronically low blood pressure that negatively affects their health, their quality of life, and their ability to engage in rehabilitative therapy.
“People with severe spinal cord injury – especially when it occurs in a higher level in the spine – have problems with blood pressure regulation to the point that it becomes the main factor affecting quality of life for them,” said Glenn Hirsch, M.D., professor of cardiology at the University of Louisville (UofL). “Some cannot even sit up without passing out. They are forced to use medications, compression stockings, or abdominal binders to maintain an adequate blood pressure.”
