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!

Late last week the Allen Institute for Brain Science revealed its Allen Spinal Cord Atlas. The atlas is the world’s first genome-wide map of the mouse spinal cord. This information will give researchers immediate access to a wealth of free online data that can be applied to spinal cord injury treatment.

According to their press release, there is close to one-quarter of a million Americans who have suffered from a spinal cord injury. With this new map, researchers are able to study diseases and disorders in humans as we share 90 percent of the same genes as mice.

When complete, this atlas will contain an estimated 20,000 genes from both youth and adults. For more information, you can read the press release here.

Dr. Thea Flock’s book The Elimination of Pain the Natural Way cites stories from 35 patients who found pain relief by using her spinal decompression therapy called The Flock Method (TFM).

The technology behind TFM relieves nerve compression, leading to pain relief. Flock doesn’t claim that her method creates 100 percent pain relief, but she says that her patients do experience diminished pain and improved functionality.

She also makes sure to point out that there is the potential for adverse symptoms with decompression, such as loss of bowel or bladder function, numbness in the back and problems with balance.

If you are interested in finding out if this therapy will work for you, visit her site here.