Archive for June, 2008
On the blog, If I Only Had a Brain, author Laura Bruno discusses how to improve your cash flow when you are encumbered with a disability. She lists tips for those who were injured at work or in a car accident while providing ideas for additional earning potential. While not overly in-depth, the information she provides is a good starting place for determining how you will continue to generate income after a disabling injury.
A TBI survivor herself, Laura has turned her situation around by becoming a Life Coach and the author of If I Only Had a Brain Injury: A TBI Survivor and Life Coach’s Guide to Chronic Fatigue, Concussion, Lyme Disease, Migraine or Other “Medical Mystery”.
With so many adaptations to make after a brain or spinal cord injury, resources such as hers can help provide you with information that will make your “new” life easier and fuller .
Engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new device that will help those with severe disabilities, such as those who are immobilized by a spinal cord injury, live fuller and more independent lives.
Assistant professor Maysam Ghovanloo and graduate student Xueliang Huo developed The Tongue Drive system which allows users to direct a cursor on a computer screen or drive a powered wheelchair with just their tongues. A magnet is attached to the tongue by implantation, piercing or tissue adhesive since the tongue is directly connected to the brain by a cranial nerve and typically remains undamaged after a spinal cord injury.
The number of possibilities for this technology are just being discovered as researchers probe how many tongue movements can be applied to commands that are useful to someone with a high-end spinal cord injury. They are also working out additional applications such as delivering commands from the simple touching of various teeth.
For more information, please visit the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
A new book detailing the life and legacy of Christopher Reeve, Somewhere In Heaven by Christopher Anderson, provides inspiration for both those with a spine injury and those without.
Christopher Reeve, best known for his portrayal of Superman, suffered a riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. His high profile roles immediately brought the the attention of the media to his situation, his recovery landmarks and eventually his conflict with George Bush over the use of embryo stem cells.
Before his death in 2004, he worked hard with researchers such as Dr. Wise Young and Henry Steifel to bring attention to the American Paralysis Association (APA), lending his famous face to the cause . With Reeve’s help, the US Senate passed a bill allowing stem cell research to go forward, potentially helping thousands of SCI patients.
Christopher Reeve left behind millions that he raised for spinal injury research and a legacy that shows just how appropriate his “Superman” role was.
For more information, visit the Paralysis Resource Center.
Q: What are the three processes that injure the brain?
A: Bruising, tearing and swelling.
When the brain is bruised, the brain tissue is smashed against the skull and blood vessels may tear. When blood vessels tear, they release blood into areas of the brain in a random, chaotic manner. “There is no room for this extra blood, and the skull, being hard and brittle, does not expand. So the blood begins to press on softer things–like brain tissue. Brain tissue is very delicate and will stop working properly or may even die off. With large amounts of bleeding in the brain, the pressure will make critical areas of the brain stop working.”
When the brain tissue is torn, it is due to an amount of energy acting on it during a traumatic impact that cuts the tissue. “Tearing in the brain “cuts” the wires that make the brain work. One of the problems with tearing is that it happens on a microscopic level (the brain has about 100 billion of these “wires”). This tearing may not show up on typical medical tests. Devices that take pictures of the brain will not see these small tears.”
Swelling, due to blood leaking after an impact to the brain, causes pressure to build up with no outlet until areas of the brain are damaged.
Reference: http://www.tbiguide.com
Doctor Paul Harch has been studying the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on more than 500 patients with brain injuries. He claims to that the high doses of oxygen stimulates the brain’s ability to repair itself.
Examples of those this therapy has helped include a Florida judge who says he experienced improved cognition, word finding and balance – all areas that were damaged when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used for Autism, decompression sickness in deep sea divers, gas embolism, CO poison, smoke inhalation, migrains, burns and a variety of other medical conditions. It increases neuronal energy metabolism in the brain, wakes up sleeping brain cells, enhances the immune system, reduces tissue swelling and deactivates toxins among other benefits.
As more studies are done and applications documented regarding oxygen therapy’s application to TBI, hopefully there will be an increase in patients with improved functioning.
With the use of brain-imaging technology that uses MEG technology (magnetoencephalography), physicians at an Elk Grove Village hospital are hoping to determine if combat veterans are suffering from undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries.
This “magnetic stethoscope” picks up magnetic signals that are produced by the brain when it is exposed to visual or auditory stimuli. This will help doctors determine whether vets who have PTSD also have a TBI as those signals differ when patients have one from when they have both.
According to the Chicago Tribune article, this technology will help patients receive proper treatment for the biological factors involved in PTSD and TBI.
Researchers have discovered a high prevalence of bladder cancer in SCI patients. Occurrences were high in both Foley catheter users and non users, leading medical professionals to recommend more frequent screening “regardless of bladder management technique”. Typically the suggested time between check-ups with a surveillance cystoscopy is every ten years, but for health reasons, this period should be decreased.
The original report is by UroToday.com.
Statistic on Paralysis
Paralysis affects about four to five million Americans. Here are some other interesting statistics on paralysis:
• As many as 400,000 Americans are living with spinal cord injuries.
• Most spinal cord injuries occur between the ages of 16 and 30, and about 82% of those who experience spinal cord injuries are male.
• The average age at which spinal cord injuries occur is 33.4 years
• The most frequent age at injury is 19.
• Motor vehicle accidents account for 44% of spinal cord injuries.
• Other leading causes of spinal cord injury include acts of violence (22%), falls (22%), and sports (8%). Two-thirds of the sports-related injuries are from diving.
• Falls are the leading cause of spinal cord injury after the age of 45.
BioArctic Neuroscience AB and Swenora Biotech AB have announced the formation of an exclusive agreement geared towards a new type of treatment for spinal cord injuries.
With the goal of improving “functional recovery and quality of life for patients with spinal cord injury”, Swenora has created peripheral nerve grafts. In combination with a growth factor, these grafts have assisted with spinal cord repair in rodents.
This repair is applied by using a biodegradable device that combines peripheral nerves and a growth factor. It is used during neurosurgery when injured tissue is replaced. We will be keeping an eye out for more news on this advancement as it bodes well for the many patients with spinal cord injuries.
With all the discussion lately about the variety of ways to sustain both head and spinal cord injuries (extreme sports, bike riding, trampolines and so on), it’s refreshing to be able to bring your attention to something that reduces your risk!
University of UBC researchers in Vancouver, Canada have created a helmet that will reduce spinal cord injuries due to a head-first collision by an astounding 56 percent. While still in the design stages, researchers say that it will reduce the load on the neck, preventing fractures and spine injuries by deflecting the head.
Initially this helmet will be marketed towards hockey players and then will begin to target other sports activities.
