TORONTO — Three years ago, Master Cpl. Jody Mitic stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan and along with losing both of his legs, he also thought he would never be able to play sports again.

But on Friday Mitic — who has run in marathons, snowboarded, hang-glided and scuba dived since his accident — was one of 40 chosen to carry the Paralympic torch in Toronto. Continue Reading »

Volunteer recognised for promoting spinal safety message

Disability Services Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk today paid tribute to volunteer Wayne Leo for promoting spinal safety and injury prevention to 250,000 children across Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk was attending a morning tea at the Spinal Injuries Association Queensland at Woolloongabba. Continue Reading »

A California scientist was able to get paralyzed rats running again, but can he do the same thing for humans?

HealthFirst reporter Leslie Toldo tells us about a new treatment that could revolutionize treatment of spinal cord injuries.

This is all about 10 years of research and one man’s quest to use stem cell injections to cure these devastating injuries. Continue Reading »

When the cast of a new play plans its positions on a stage, the complicated process of mapping out its moves (known as blocking, and that includes not blocking sightlines for other actors) must allow for consideration of the rake, or angle, of the stage. Try figuring it all out from a wheelchair.

“It’s funny,” says James Sanders, a quadriplegic actor. “The stages aren’t always level, so I find myself trying to figure out where exactly I’m going to be, so my chair doesn’t creep around.” Continue Reading »

Being paralyzed and totally dependent on others gave Dr. Brad Berk lots of time to think.

As chief executive of University of Rochester Medical Center, he’d led efforts to improve patient care. But rehabilitating from a bicycle accident that injured his spinal cord showed him clearly that healing is about more than science-based treatments. To put your trust in caregivers, you need a caring connection and clear communication. Continue Reading »

Medical science has come a long way since the days of Hippocrates. The discovery of wonder drugs called antibiotics, the formulation of anaesthesia that revolutionised surgery, the discovery of monoclonal antibodies to treat various diseases etc, are medical milestones that have paved the road to modern medicine that exists today.

Along with technological advancement, medical science also continues to advance. The latest discovery having the potential of becoming the elixirs of life is the small microscopic cluster of cells, also called ‘stem cells’. Once just a small inclusion in cryptic health journals, these microscopic cells are now making headlines with not just the medical fraternity, but also with the political diaspora, who are debating on the moral principles of stem cell research. Continue Reading »

Researchers at UTHealth have demonstrated in rats that transplanting genetically modified adult stem cells into an injured spinal cord can help restore the electrical pathways associated with movement. The results are published in the Feb. 24 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

In spinal cord injury, demyelination, or the destruction of the myelin sheath in the central nervous system, occurs. The myelin sheath, produced by cells called oligodendrocytes, wraps around the axons of nerves and helps speed activity and insulate electrical conduction. Without it, the nerves cannot send messages to make muscles move. Continue Reading »

Richard Perrin was thrown off a motorcycle at 160 km/h. ‘I came out on thewrong side of the risk-reward equation,’ he says of the accident that left him paralyzed from the ribcage down. ‘I knew the risks. … I wasn’t asking, Why me?’.

Richard Perrin’s obsession was ignited one decade ago by a television commercial that pictured a gleaming motorcycle power-sliding across the desert sand. “Only one custom motorcycle in the world can cruise like this,” the narrator intoned, “the Valkyrie from Honda.” Continue Reading »

DENVER – Luke Vogel was angry. There is no other way to say it. He had heard people talk about quadriplegics before the accident, but now it was personal.

There he was, sitting in that new wheelchair, wondering what was going to happen to him as he approached the rest of his life.

He was only 16.

Two years later, the anger has faded. Continue Reading »

Local physical therapist pairs former patients with new patients to help newly disabled people learn how to cope

Jesse Gifford knows all too well how Matt Thomas feels these days.

Thomas has been confined to a wheelchair since July, when a mountain bike accident left him paralyzed. Gifford suffered a similar paralyzing injury almost 13 years ago after a diving accident. Continue Reading »