This week’s fact (or rather, facts) comes from the Care Cure Community’s Dr. Wise Young in response to the spinal cord injury question, “What can I do now to be ready for the cure?”

“The first and foremost concern of people with spinal cord injury should be to take care of their body and try to prevent muscle and bone atrophy and other changes that may prevent recovery of function. This is difficult but people need to engage in disciplined exercise that maintains their muscle and bone, take care of their skin, bladder, and bowels.

People should avoid procedures that cause irreversible loss of peripheral nerve and other functions. On the other hand, it is important to weigh the benefits of procedures such as tendon transfers which can provide greater functionality and independence for people with weak hands. Likewise, certain procedures such as Mitrofanoff and bladder augmentation to reduce bladder spasticity may provide greater independence but may not be easily reversible.

Finally, many studies have shown that people with the highest levels of education after injury are more likely to have better quality of life and health. It is important that people do not neglect their brain, the most important part of their body.”

Dr. Wise Young is the founding director of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience and a professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is recognized as one of the world’s top neuroscientists.

Did you know that motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of spinal cord injuries in kids? Not surprising, an estimated 70 percent of these injuries happened to children who were not wearing seat belts.

Even a small impact, such as a minor rear-ending, can cause potential spinal cord damage. Here are some of the symptoms to look for:

Flaccid extremties

Paralysis

Numbness or paresthesias (sensations such as tingling or burning)

Paresis or weakness

Priaprism

Incontinence of bowel or bladder

Injuries to the spinal cord are difficult to discover in children, so it’s necessary to closely monitor for these signs as well as indicators of pain or poor reflexes.

While we can’t always prevent an injury, we can work to limit the damage by acting quickly after an accident.

Physical activity can benefit paralysis…truly! With a combination of electrical stimulation, breathing exercises and aquatherapy, Christopher Reeve was able to regain a degree of motion.

The doctor who treated him, Dr. John McDonald, believes that the increased control Reeve gained over his limbs was due to dormant nerves being awakened with exercise. Said McDonald, “Although we cannon conclude that the activity-based recovery program produced the functional benefits, we believe it was responsible for the physical benefits.”

The fact is, exercise benefits so much more than just your physical health - it is great for your mental wellbeing. While you may not enjoy exercise, either now or before you sustained the paralyzing injury, the multitude of positive results are worth the effort. Exercise increases your cardiovascular health, your bone density and muscle tone.

Our fact for this week is that exercise does a body good… pass it on!

We’ve mentioned brain plasticity in a couple of our post regarding brain injury and brain repair, so this post is going to delve into exactly what this term means and why it’s so important.

Brain plasticity, also called neuroplasticity, cortical plasticity and cortical re-mapping, is a term used to describe the way the brain organizes itself in response to experience. More specifically, “neuro” stands for neuron, the nerve cells in our brains and nervous centers, and “plasticity” for changeable or malleable. Since scientists began to study the brain, the idea was fairly set in stone that it was hardwired to respond in certain ways, and much like a computer, when one drive failed, that drive and all of it’s information was gone for good. The knowledge (read synaptic connections) contained in that portion of the brain would be wiped out if damaged, to never be regained.

Looking back now, it seems surprising that people who could easily grasp that the brain grows both in physical size and knowledge from childhood to adulthood, would assume that such an amazing organ was as unchanging as a machine. When scientists in the late 60s and early 70s began to discover that the brain was able to change what parts it used for different activities, switching over to other areas as the previously used portions stopped working or were utilized for different functions, the idea of brain plasticity was born.

Now decades of research have given credence to the idea that the brain changes in reaction to new situations or in counterbalance to brain injury. Thinking, learning and even acting change not only the brain’s organization but its actual physical structure. Called “maps”, the way the sensory system in the brain is organized changes with stimulus, often moving from one part of the brain to the other. Picture a map overlaying the brain, then move it from one area to another and you have an idea of how it works.

No longer are we limited by the idea of a never changing mind… we can now work on various aspects that are poorly formed or badly damaged with the hope of creating the necessary connections in some other part of the brain - a part capable of the needed responses. For a great book on this process and how to help your own brain function better, visit Norman Doidge’s Website or order his book, The Brain that Changes Itself.

With the increasing number of research programs focusing on stem cell research and their application to brain injury and spinal cord injury, today’s facts will help you understand why they are so useful.

Stem cells are basically blank cells that, in most cases, have the ability to become a variety of other cells. They are found in bone marrow, blood, the brain, skeletal muscle, fat and even the skin. While the main controversy exists over embryonic stem cells as they have the ability to become just about any cell, we are still able to utilize adult stem cells in a handful of useful ways.

The idea is that scientists can, with the right research, learn to program stem cells to become new spinal cord tissue or new brain tissue, repairing damage that right now, is irreversible. With more studies coming to light regarding the useful application of adult stem cells, we will hopefully see a day when researchers and anti-stem cell research advocates can find a common ground. In the meantime, keep reading. New applications are being discovered all the time!

Some Important TBI Incidence Statistics:

• TBI occurrence is strongest in the following age groups: Five years and younger, between 15 and 24 years and over 70 years old.
• The death rate is 30 per 100,000, with 50 percent of those dying within the first two hours after their injury.
• It is estimated that 50,000 people die every year in the U.S. from TBI.
• Lasting problems from TBI are estimated to affect 70,000 people.
• Three quarters of those injured are male.
• Thirty percent had a history of alcohol abuse.
• The majority of injuries were received in motor vehicle crashes, some 50 to 70 percent.

Statistics thanks to the Centre for Neuro Skills.

Who Do Spinal Cord Injuries Affect in the United States?

• 250,000 Americans are spinal cord injured.
• 52% of spinal cord injured individuals are considered paraplegic and 47% quadriplegic.
• Approximately 11,000 new injuries occur each year.
• 82% are male.
• 56% of injuries occur between the ages of 16 and 30.
• The average age of spinal cord injured person is 31.

SCI injuries are most commonly caused by:

• Vehicular accidents 37%
• Violence 28%
• Falls 21%
• Sports-related 6%
• Other 8

Statistics from Sci-info-pages.

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.

Bicycle Helmets and Traumatic Brain Injury

Bicycle crashes are a common cause of head injury and death. Studies show that wearing a bicycle helmet significantly reduces the severity of traumatic brain injury, and results in fewer deaths.

Here are some statistics regarding bicycle helmets and traumatic brain injury:

• The typical bicyclist killed on the road is a sober male over the age of 16, not wearing a helmet.

• About 540,000 bicyclists are taken to the emergency room with injuries every year. Approximately 67,000 of those injuries are brain injuries. About 27,000 of those brain injuries are severe enough to require hospitalization.

• While percentages vary according to the source, all sources agree that a high percentage—as much as 88 percent—of cyclists’ brain injuries can be prevented by an approved helmet.