On her first vacation in 10 years, a severely injured Pennsylvania State Police trooper found herself being detained in Mexico by authorities investigating a fatal crash.

For 13 hours, Jean Altomari lay strapped to a spinal board in a primitive hospital some 1,500 miles from home. With her insurance card locked in a safe on a Carnival Legend cruise ship, treatment was minimal and an immediate transfer to a trauma center in Florida delayed. What little Spanish she knew wasn’t helping, and no one around her spoke much English. Continue Reading »

From school project to the Paralympics

A sit-ski that started as an extracurricular project for some University of Calgary students will be on display at the Paralympics in Whistler, B.C., this week and may soon make skiing more accessible for disabled people.

The germ of the idea for this innovative new sit-ski came from a lift line conversation in 2006, remembers James Chew. Then an industrial design student working on his master’s degree at the University of Calgary, Chew was introduced to some members of the Calgary chapter of the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing that his friend Derek Gratz had met in a lift line at Canada Olympic Park. Continue Reading »

State trooper Paul Richter was lying on the ground, looking up at the man who had just shot him. Death seemed all but certain. The Queens-born Richter had been shot in the leg, arm and neck while checking out a vehicle that had been used in the robbery of a sporting goods store, and the shooter seemed ready to finish him off.

“Nah, he’s dead,” the shooter’s accomplice said, giving Richter a reprieve. But the 1973 encounter in Lake Placid left Richter paralyzed for months. Eventually he was able to regain some function of his legs and can walk with the assistance of a cane. Continue Reading »

A recent paper in the journal Nature Medicine sheds some important new light on the underlying mechanisms of spasticity that often develops after a spinal cord injury. Involuntary contractions of muscles, or spasticity, can have potentially serious consequences, and although medications are available that reduce spasticity, they can also interfere with positive motor functions or rehabilitation.

Although spasticity represents an involuntary movement of muscle, the muscular activity originates with excited neurons telling the muscles to constantly move and contract (hyperexcitability). Continue Reading »

HOUSTON — He lost the use of his limbs but found a love for art — now a local artist is on a mission to help others with spinal cord injuries. Continue Reading »

Three months ago, 11-year-old Mackenzie Saunders injured her spinal cord
while playing soccer and was unable to walk.

The times that followed could have been her darkest hours. Instead, her irrepressible attitude has made her a star.

Her pain required three-times-a-day medication. The physical therapy toward getting her to walk might have brought tears to the eyes of someone twice her age. Continue Reading »

IRVINE, Calif., Mar 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN) today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BOTOX^(R) (onabotulinumtoxinA) for the treatment of increased muscle stiffness in the elbow, wrist and fingers in adults with upper limb spasticity.

Spasticity is a debilitating condition impacting approximately 1 million Americans¹, many of whom suffer from spasticity in the upper limbs following a stroke. Upper limb spasticity may also occur following a spinal cord or traumatic brain injury or in patients affected by multiple sclerosis or adults with a history of cerebral palsy. Continue Reading »

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. – A North Fort Myers High School track athlete is breaking boundaries and inspiring even her toughest competitors. Continue Reading »

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 »