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How a Breakthrough Therapy Helped Two Paralyzed People Walk Again

buy canada goose jacket When Kelly Thomas got the phone call that would canada goose outlet washington dc change her life, she almost hung up. thought it was a sales canada goose factory outlet vancouver call or something, Thomas remembers. buy canada goose jacket

Canada Goose Parka But on the line was a researcher from the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the buy canada goose uk University of canada goose outlet online uk Louisville, offering Thomas a place in a trial one that eventually allowed the 23 year old Florida native, who became paralyzed after a 2014 car accident, to walk again. Canada Goose Parka

buy canada goose jacket cheap The results of the study, which were published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, are striking. Of four partially paralyzed people who went through extensive mobility training, two Thomas, and 35 year old Jeff Marquis eventually regained the ability to walk with help from a spinal stimulator, potentially opening the door canada goose jacket uk to new therapies for canada goose outlet mississauga people with traumatic spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis. spinal canada goose outlet usa cord can relearn to walk again. canada goose jacket outlet uk For canada goose outlet florida Thomas and Marquis, that breakthrough was a long time canada goose uk site coming. Thomas, a horseback rider and soccer player before her accident, had been confined to a wheelchair for three years. Marquis, who broke canada goose parka outlet his neck and became paralyzed after a mountain biking accident seven years ago, was canada goose outlet edmonton forced canada goose outlet near me to quit his job as a chef and needed assistance for everyday tasks like getting out of bed. For both of them, learning to walk meant starting over from scratch. buy canada goose jacket cheap

canada goose black friday sale something that used to be automatic. I never really thought, got to straighten this leg, and I got to lift up the other leg,’ Marquis says. it all together, it takes as much mental endurance as it does canada goose outlet canada physical. Mental focus was integral to both patients success, Harkema says. The technique her lab developed integrated three crucial parts: stimulation via electrodes canada goose outlet toronto location implanted on the spinal column, physical assistance from trainers and mental intention from the individuals. Only when all three came together, she says, did the patients see results. canada goose black friday sale

canada goose deals Contrary to conventional medical wisdom, Harkema says many neurons remain alive and active after a spinal canada goose outlet website legit injury, even if they can no canada goose outlet orlando longer process and translate information from the brain and the surrounding environment, thus impairing movement. In the new study, Harkema and her team demonstrated canada goose outlet in toronto that canada goose outlet london it possible, in some cases, to retrain canada goose outlet store near me those existing circuits. canada goose deals

canada goose First, they implanted electrodes on the spine to generate electrical currents meant to tap into maladapted circuitry and the spinal cord in the right state so it can function more like it used to, Harkema says. (A separate stimulator was also implanted surgically in their abdominal wall.) Then, a team of trainers physically moved the patients bodies to help them remember what standing and stepping feels like. Meanwhile, the individuals focused on moving, providing the mental intention to walk. canada goose

Canada Goose Jackets If those three things happened perfectly in concert, Harkema says, the circuitry took over, and the individual was able to walk without assistance. Canada Goose Jackets

canada goose clearance Getting there wasn easy. Marquis was the first trial participant to take steps with both legs by himself, but doing so took 85 weeks of training. When the day came, however, he knew it was time. canada goose clearance

Canada Goose Outlet was just like, I don know what I just did, but I need to do it again,’ she says with a laugh. Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose sale Today, both are able to walk using walkers or canes and report better overall health and quality of life, thanks to the spinal stimulator. Canada Goose sale

Canada Goose online ability to walk, the ability to stand, the ability to voluntarily move the legs: It there, and it can be recovered with the perfect combination of, in this case, epidural stimulation and intent from the brain, Angeli says. spinal cord is telling us that it able to recover those functions. Canada Goose online

canada goose store The new research will need to be replicated in a larger number of patients to verify the results and determine exactly canada goose outlet which injuries this type of therapy can treat. But the findings add to other promising results in the field. In 2014, researchers at the University of Louisville, including Harkema and Angeli, used epidural stimulation to help four paralyzed individuals regain movement of their legs. And on Monday, the same day the new Louisville study was published, researchers from the University of California Los Angeles and the Mayo Clinic reported in Nature Medicine that they helped a paralyzed man walk with assistance. canada goose store

canada goose coats the understanding that this capacity is there should change the conversation about providing therapy and providing the right type of physical rehabilitation for people with these types of injuries, canadagooseoutlet4online Harkema says. discussions need to now be open, to be had, because there evidence for these mechanisms canada goose coats.