Once Paralyzed, Three Men Take Steps Again With Spinal Implant

To protect the heads of football players, it might be advisable to have them occasionally practice without head protection, according to a counterintuitive new study of a successful Division I football program.

Research has shown the importance of infant-primary caregiver attachment for the future of the child's cognitive ability, emotional health, and parent relationship. Infant Mental Health Specialists and other practitioners have emphasized programs and techniques to improve this relationship, for example infant massage classes, and specifically tailored interventions.

Living in poverty can impact brain functioning due to the consistent stress and can lead to difficulty with problem solving, decision making, and goal setting. A Boston-based project, EMPath, addresses this issue by assisting families with identifying goals and taking the steps to accomplish these goals.

Research has found that physical movement, such as dance, can be an affective treatment and rehabilitation for people with Parkinson’s Disease. The Dance Well Initiative brings people with Parkinson’s, as well as community members, together to stage dance performances in gallery spaces as treatment and a creative response to the surrounding art.

At least five people who were paralyzed are walking, thanks to a pain stimulator and physical therapy. The stimulator, which is implanted in the body, sends electricity to the spine, and combined with therapy, can retrain the body to walk again. “The first day I took steps on my own was an emotional milestone in my recovery that I’ll never forget, as one minute I was walking with the trainer’s assistance and, while they stopped, I continued walking on my own.”

People with severe spinal injuries have gained some movement after having a small device implanted that sends signals to muscles that mimic communication from the brain. While further research is needed, improved capacity and nerve regeneration in subjects argues that this is an effective path to treating spinal injuries.

In Oregon, there is a law in place that helps guide public school officials in how to react to a child with a possible concussion, but that law doesn't address what to do if a child suffers a concussion during private competitions. To address this loophole, concussion experts as well as a skier that had been impacted by this blind spot, led a legal fight that eventually allowed the expansion of this law to also cover "organized youth sports that take place outside public schools."

To reduce risk of concussions in high school football, high school coaches in Oregon are reducing the amount of impact time allowed during practices. Using the parameters established via the USA Football five levels of contact, high school coaches keep their players under 90 minutes of contact per week and instead work to "create higher-level intensity contact, without hitting each other, that is safe for the athlete."

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. developed a “smart knee,” which has built-in sensors that can wirelessly transmit data about how a replacement knee is working. The data is sent directly to a doctor, who can then monitor how the patient is doing after surgery. Doctors and medical device developers predict this smart knee technology could be replicated in artificial hips, shoulders, and spinal implants and several other uses beyond orthopedics, like monitoring hearing aids.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is being used to treat people with treatment-resistant depression. The noninvasive procedure uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerves in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. So far 19 people have undergone the program at Brattleboro Retreat — many of which have seen improvements in their symptoms — and more than 300 treatments have been completed to date.