Here is a story from March 2006 about Dr. John McDonald who is using restoration therapy to help paralyzed patients get back on their feet. “A major effort that we’re working on is using the concept of patterned activity in order to optimize someone’s ability to self repair their own nervous system and recover function,” Dr. McDonald tells DBIS.
WHAT IS RESTORATION THERAPY? Dr.McDonald’s specialty is activity-based restoration therapy that combines rehab therapies and advanced restoration technologies to help patients recover more quickly. He says that this approach demonstrates that patterned physical activity, such as cycling or walking movements, helps regenerate stem cells and help patients’ bodies “remember” how to move. For instance, one method uses a computer to send electrical messages to a patient’s legs, signaling the leg muscles to contract and pedal a specially designed bike. In normal development of the nervous system, cells are born and differentiate themselves through patterned neural activity; injury to the spinal cord interrupts this vital process.
I have heard of this therapy before. It is the therapy that Christopher Reeve was using before his death. He was able to regain some sensation and movement as a result.
The article still mentions research on embryonic stem cells as the “next step” for spinal cord injury researchers, which Dr. McDonald is working on apparently, but that’s to be expected.
One Comment on “Who Needs Stem Cells?”
I have been a t-8 para since sept 25 1999 and i will be fifty sept 8,2011.Iv’e been waiting for the u.s to come up with a cure since my injury as i was told back then it was not a matter of if they can find a cure but when.Eleven yrs latter the u.s has barely scrached the surface while other countrys have left us in their dust.I’m not getting any younger and i want to participate on a more active level with my sons and hopefully my grand kids but most importantly my mom is now 80yrs old and as she is still getting around well when the time comes that i’m needed i need to de able to pick her up and do the things for her that she will no longer be able to do herself in the future,If i wait for the u.s i’m relitively sure none of my hopes and dreams will become reality.Now I am going to have to raise the money to go out of country to achieve my goals but on social sec disability I will need to get donations to make this happen. Its to bad that my medicare won’t pay for my procedure in the not so long run it would save the goverment so much money as just my catheters alone cost medicare 1500.00 a month if i only regained my bladder function it would be worth it not to mention what it would mean to me.