1. What's next?
2. Where do I sign up? (Although it may not work on me - I know that electric stim as used on an FES bike doesn't...)
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... 3/abstract
----- "Peter T. Wilderotter, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation" <peterwilderotter@christopherreeve.org> wrote:
> Click to view as a web page.
Support research to find cures
>
>
> Paraplegic man stands and steps with assistance
>
Learn More
Support Research
>
> Major Breakthrough : Paraplegic man stands and steps with assistance
> and moves his legs voluntarily
>
> Dear Mary-Anne,
>
> As a faithful supporter of the Reeve Foundation, I want you to be
> among the first to hear about a major research breakthrough for people
> living with a spinal cord injury .
>
> Rob Summers, a 25-year-old Portland, Oregon man, who was paralyzed
> below his chest with a C7/T1 injury as a result of a car accident, is
> standing and stepping with assistance, and voluntarily moving his legs
> for the first time since his injury .
>
> This breakthrough is a result of thirty years of focused scientific
> research and the unshakeable belief of people like you that we can
> find treatments and cures for spinal cord injury paralysis.
>
> In this study, continual direct epidural electrical stimulation to the
> subject's lower spinal cord mimicks the signals his brain would
> normally send to initiate movement. This coupled with intense
> locomotor training is responsible for the subject's unprecedented
> functional recovery.
>
> The subject is able to stand supplying the muscular push himself, and
> remain standing, bearing his full weight for up to four minutes at a
> time and up to an hour with periodic assistance. In addition to some
> functional recovery, relief from some of the secondary complications
> of complete spinal cord injury (for example, loss of bladder and
> sexual function) could be even more significant.
>
> Aided by a harness and some therapist assistance, he can make repeated
> stepping motions on a treadmill. He can also voluntarily move his
> toes, ankles, knees and hips on command.
>
> This study comes from an 11-member research team led by Susan Harkema,
> Ph.D. of the University of Louisville and V. Reggie Edgerton, Ph.D. of
> UCLA. Dr. Harkema is Director of the Reeve Foundation's NeuroRecovery
> Network, which translates scientific advances into activity-based
> rehabilitation treatments. Dr. Edgerton is a member of the Reeve
> Foundation's Science Advisory Council and its International Research
> Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury. The Reeve Foundation, thanks to your
> generous contributions, funded this research, along with the National
> Institutes of Health.
>
> The results are published today in the British medical journal, The
> Lancet . Learn more about the study.
>
> While this is exciting news for everyone in our community, it is only
> the beginning. The study needs to be replicated with other subjects.
> The stimulation equipment used in this research needs to be refined
> and drug interventions that would further enhance the results must be
> developed. Dr. Harkema says, "...we have a long road ahead."
>
> But what Christopher Reeve proclaimed more than a decade ago is being
> proven true today. Nothing is impossible. Life-changing treatments are
> within our sights.
>
> The faithful financial donations of our supporters have brought us to
> this exciting moment. Where it leads and how it impacts the more than
> five million Americans living with paralysis is just a matter of time
> and money.
>
> I hope you will take a few moments to learn more about this
> breakthrough and join all of us in celebrating this important day.
>
>
Peter T. Wilderotter, President and CEO
>
> With gratitude,
>
> Peter T. Wilderotter, President and CEO
>
> Peter T. Wilderotter
> President and CEO
> Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Christopher & Dana Reeve
> Foundation
>
> To prevent mailbox filters from deleting mailings from Peter T.
> Wilderotter, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, add
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>
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>
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