Spinal injury
People living with spinal cord injury can experience lasting pain relief through the injection of micro-fragmented adipose tissue (MFAT) for rotator cuff disease, new research has revealed.
A team of specialists in regenerative rehabilitation have shown through a pilot study that MFAT can deliver benefits to wheelchair users who experience shoulder problems. In the study, nearly 80 per cent of participants saw a meaningful decrease in pain symptoms through an ultrasound-guided injection of MFAT, and all but one reported some improvement in pain and function. Scores also declined steadily over the first three months for all metrics, and over the entire year for the BPI-17 pain metric, suggesting that this intervention has long-lasting effects.
Exoskeletons could help people with spinal cord injury improve their bowel function, new research has revealed.
Physical intervention plans which included exoskeleton-assisted walking were shown to help people with SCI evacuate more efficiently and improved the consistency of their stool. Rehabilitation professionals have traditionally managed bowel dysfunction using approaches that target the gastrointestinal system or require manual intervention, but some newer research suggests that physical activity and upright posture may enhance bowel motility. However, few studies have explored the possibility that exoskeletal-assisted walking - in which a person with spinal cord injury wears a robotic suit, enabling them to stand and walk - may be an effective addition to existing intervention plans.
A new Transatlantic alliance has been formed to expand support further for the spinal cord injury community.
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation has collaborated with Spinal Injuries Ireland (SII) to foster sharing of best practices, expand services and educational content, and enable joint fundraising opportunities in the US and Ireland. This Reeve-SII collaboration follows an alliance with the International Spinal Research Trust (ISRT), announced earlier this year, as a joint strategic approach to research with a focus on accelerating the progress of therapies and their delivery to the millions of people around the world living with the life-altering effects of paralysis. As the only support and service agency for those who sustain a spinal cord injury in Ireland, SII provides support for injured people and their families and friends at every stage, with counselling, community outreach, peer mentoring and activity programs.
Writing for HT World, Brian O’Shea, continuing healthcare advisor at the Spinal Injuries Association, urges commissioners to embrace change for the good of the patient.
Established using best practice in spinal cord injury therapy from around the world, the rehabilitation offered by Neurokinex is helping to redefine the possibilities for people living with paralysis. NR Times learns more about its neuroscience-inspired work
“We want to help change people’s outlook on life.” Jane Symonds’ summary of the work of Neurokinex, and its approach to redefining possibilities for people living with paralysis, is a powerful one. For aside from the work the rehab provider does with patients physically, using techniques to stimulate the whole body rather than only the functional areas, the impact its neuroscience-inspired approach has mentally is possibly even greater.
As chief executive of Spinal Research, Harvey Sihota’s focus is to advance global efforts to develop treatments for paralysis through its funding of medical research. Here, Harvey tells NR Times why efforts to turn academic discoveries into clinical realities must be stepped up, and how both investment and expertise is crucial to that Back in 2009, when a freak accident led to Harvey Sihota being left paralysed, the outlook for spinal cord injury patients being able to walk again was less than optimistic. “It was considered to be final, a lifelong condition. When the consultant came to my hospital bed and told me I’d never walk again, it was very black and white,” he recalls.
A neurophysio provider which aims to improve life quality and outlook for people with paralysis has won an award in recognition of its work.
Neurokinex brings together specialist rehab programmes, the latest technology and neuroscience-led thinking; and has built up a reputation for its work with spinal cord injury patients. The charitable trust and social enterprise builds programmes involving the whole body in exercise - optimising the strength and endurance of functioning muscles, while stimulating the muscles that have been most affected by injury or neurological condition. It has also built a reputation on an international scale, with affiliation with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Neurorecovery Network.
A means to accelerate regeneration of neurons and reconstruct the neural circuit in the spine has been discovered, in a further breakthrough for spinal cord injury patients worldwide.
A nanobiomaterial, layered double hydroxide (LDH), has been proven to inhibit the inflammatory environment surrounding spinal cord injuries in mice, in research from Tongji University in Shanghai. For the first time, the study was also able to identify the underlying genetic mechanism by which LDH works.
Efforts to bring epidural stimulation into mainstream use - which could enable people with spinal cord injury to walk again - have moved a step closer through new funding for the project.
In 2018, the University of Louisville made news worldwide when two people diagnosed with spinal cord injuries recovered the ability to walk through the experimental use of epidural stimulation. However, since that time, the use of the breakthrough therapy outside of a research lab setting have so far not come to fruition. However, the prospect has moved a step closer with a $7.8million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Intravenous injection of bone marrow derived stem cells (MSCs) in patients with spinal cord injuries led to significant improvement in motor functions, new research has found.
For more than half of the patients, substantial improvements in key functions — such as ability to walk, or to use their hands — were observed within weeks of stem cell injection, the study from Yale University reports.
