After an incomplete spinal cord injury, the body can partially recover basic motor function. So-called muscle spindles and associated sensory circuits back to the spinal cord promote the establishment of novel neuronal connections after injury. This circuit-level mechanism behind the process of motor recovery was elucidated by Silvia Arber’s research group at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research and the Biozentrum, University of Basel. Their findings may contribute to designing novel strategies for treatment after spinal cord injuries and have been published in the journal “Cell”.

Spinal cord injuries often lead to chronically impaired motor function. However, patients with incomplete spinal cord injury can partially regain their basic motor ability under certain circumstances. It is believed that remaining uninjured spinal cord tissue provides a substrate to form new circuits bridging the injury. How this formation of new connections is triggered and promoted has remained unclear until now.

A recent technological breakthrough has allowed patients with incomplete spinal chord injury to achieve a remarkable improvement in their lifestyle and improve voluntary coordination of muscle movements, while continuing to improve their basic motor ability. Without the KeegoTM device, patients had a difficult time moving their legs, had to stop when taking stairs from exhaustion, had a difficult time picking up objects from the floor, exerted strenuous effort, when getting up from a chair to walk down the hall. Same patients wearing a KeegoTM device were able to achieve healthy movement patterns during several clinical trials. These same patients were able to walk about quicker, had no trouble walking up or down the stairs, picked up objects from the floor with little effort, and were able to easily sit down, and get up from the seat without propping themselves up with their hands.

If you have been affected by an incomplete spinal chord injury, please see a specialist at the PRI clinic. This multi-disciplinary team is specifically trained to properly introduce your body to the KeegoTM device, which will allow your body to achieve a remarkable improvement in your lifestyle. To book an appointment, please call or follow these links.

To book an appointment, please call or follow these links.

Tel: (416) 477-1101
E-mail: reception@priclinic.com
Web: www.priclinic.com