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Paralyzed Oregon St. baseball player moves again with implant
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by MARIA CHENG / Associated Press</span></span></div>
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LONDON â€" After Rob Summers was paralyzed below the
chest in a car accident in 2006, his doctors told him he would never
stand again. They were wrong.
Despite intensive physical therapy for three years, Summers'
condition hadn't improved. So in 2009, doctors implanted an electrical
stimulator onto the lining of his spinal cord to try waking up his
damaged nervous system. Within days, Summers, 25, stood without help.
Months later, he wiggled his toes, moved his knees, ankles and hips, and
was able to take a few steps on a treadmill.
"It was the most incredible feeling," said Summers, of Portland,
Oregon. "After not being able to move for four years, I thought things
could finally change."
Summers, a pitcher for Oregon State, was on the 2006 national championship team.
Still, despite his renewed optimism, Summers can't stand when he's
not in a therapy session with the stimulator turned on, and he normally
gets around in a wheelchair. Doctors are currently limiting his use of
the device, made by Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Inc., to several hours
at a time.
His case is described in a paper published Friday in the journal,
Lancet. The research was paid for by the U.S. National Institutes of
Health and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
For years, certain people with incomplete spinal cord injuries, who
have some control of their limbs, have experienced some improvement
after experiments to electrically stimulate their muscles. But such
progress had not been seen before in someone with a complete spinal cord
injury.
"This is not a cure, but it could lead to improved functionality in
some patients," said Gregoire Courtine, head of experimental
neurorehabilitation at the University of Zurich. He was not connected to
Summers' case. Courtine cautioned Summers' recovery didn't make any
difference to the patient's daily life and that more research was needed
to help paralyzed people regain enough mobility to make a difference in
their normal routines.
The electrical stimulator surgeons implanted onto Summers' spinal
cord is usually used to relieve pain and can cost up to $20,000.
Summers' doctors implanted it lower than normal, onto the very bottom of
his vertebrae.
"The stimulator sends a general signal to the spinal cord to walk or
stand," said Dr. Susan Harkema, rehabilitation research director at the
Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center in Louisville and the Lancet
study's lead author.
Harkema and her colleagues were surprised Summers was able to
voluntarily move his legs. "That tells us we can access the circuitry of
the nervous system, which opens up a whole new avenue for us to address
paralysis," Harkema said. She said prescribing drugs might also speed
recovery.
Dr. John McDonald, director of the International Center for Spinal
Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, said the strategy
could be rapidly adopted for the 10 to 15 percent of paralyzed patients
who might benefit. He was not connected to the Summers case.
"There is no question we will do this for our patients," he said.
McDonald added that since the electrical stimulators are already
approved for pain relief, it shouldn't be difficult to also study them
to help some patients regain movement.
For now, Summers does about two hours a day of physical therapy.
"My ultimate goal is to walk and run again," he said. "I believe
anything is possible and that I will get out of my wheelchair one day."
http://www.nwcn.com/sports/Paralyzed-Oregon-St-baseball-player-moves-again-with-implant-122365969.html
<h1 ="entry-title">
Paralyzed Oregon St. baseball player moves again with implant
</h1>
</div>
<div id="flashvidcontainer">
</div>
<div id="storyInfoHolder">
by MARIA CHENG / Associated Press</span></span></div>
<div id="fbRecommend">
</span>
</div>
<div id="inset">
<div ="module" id="story">
</div>
</div>
LONDON â€" After Rob Summers was paralyzed below the
chest in a car accident in 2006, his doctors told him he would never
stand again. They were wrong.
Despite intensive physical therapy for three years, Summers'
condition hadn't improved. So in 2009, doctors implanted an electrical
stimulator onto the lining of his spinal cord to try waking up his
damaged nervous system. Within days, Summers, 25, stood without help.
Months later, he wiggled his toes, moved his knees, ankles and hips, and
was able to take a few steps on a treadmill.
"It was the most incredible feeling," said Summers, of Portland,
Oregon. "After not being able to move for four years, I thought things
could finally change."
Summers, a pitcher for Oregon State, was on the 2006 national championship team.
Still, despite his renewed optimism, Summers can't stand when he's
not in a therapy session with the stimulator turned on, and he normally
gets around in a wheelchair. Doctors are currently limiting his use of
the device, made by Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Inc., to several hours
at a time.
His case is described in a paper published Friday in the journal,
Lancet. The research was paid for by the U.S. National Institutes of
Health and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
For years, certain people with incomplete spinal cord injuries, who
have some control of their limbs, have experienced some improvement
after experiments to electrically stimulate their muscles. But such
progress had not been seen before in someone with a complete spinal cord
injury.
"This is not a cure, but it could lead to improved functionality in
some patients," said Gregoire Courtine, head of experimental
neurorehabilitation at the University of Zurich. He was not connected to
Summers' case. Courtine cautioned Summers' recovery didn't make any
difference to the patient's daily life and that more research was needed
to help paralyzed people regain enough mobility to make a difference in
their normal routines.
The electrical stimulator surgeons implanted onto Summers' spinal
cord is usually used to relieve pain and can cost up to $20,000.
Summers' doctors implanted it lower than normal, onto the very bottom of
his vertebrae.
"The stimulator sends a general signal to the spinal cord to walk or
stand," said Dr. Susan Harkema, rehabilitation research director at the
Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center in Louisville and the Lancet
study's lead author.
Harkema and her colleagues were surprised Summers was able to
voluntarily move his legs. "That tells us we can access the circuitry of
the nervous system, which opens up a whole new avenue for us to address
paralysis," Harkema said. She said prescribing drugs might also speed
recovery.
Dr. John McDonald, director of the International Center for Spinal
Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, said the strategy
could be rapidly adopted for the 10 to 15 percent of paralyzed patients
who might benefit. He was not connected to the Summers case.
"There is no question we will do this for our patients," he said.
McDonald added that since the electrical stimulators are already
approved for pain relief, it shouldn't be difficult to also study them
to help some patients regain movement.
For now, Summers does about two hours a day of physical therapy.
"My ultimate goal is to walk and run again," he said. "I believe
anything is possible and that I will get out of my wheelchair one day."
http://www.nwcn.com/sports/Paralyzed-Oregon-St-baseball-player-moves-again-with-implant-122365969.html