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A researcher explains why he is optimistic about medical research-and why he thinks you should be too.
By William Bauman, MD
Have you ever appreciated medical care you received? If so, you know that medicine can make the difference between a good outcome and a bad one, and in the most dramatic instance, between life and death.
Did you ever feel that a physician could only do so much to treat a friend or loved one? When this happens, one feels hopeless, but concrete action can still be taken. A disease is like a puzzle, and it can be “solved.” Even if [...]
Part 1 of a 3-part series on understanding and coping with spasticity.
By Rob Ingraham
Spasticity, the sudden, involuntary muscle contractions characteristic of many people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI), is a complex secondary condition that, paradoxically, is a debilitating, painful burden for some, but an unexpected advantage for negotiating activities of daily living for others.
“Some folks welcome spasticity; for others it is the bane of their existence,” said Dr. David R. Gater, chief of Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Gater presented an overview of the [...]
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and time to remember that even women with spinal cord injuries are at risk.
By EM Treston
I try to follow guidelines set up by the medical community so when I turned 40, it was time for a mammogram. The only time I saw a mammogram machine was on television during “October is Breast Awareness Month”-a barrage of commercials and news flashes from the health expert during the six o’clock news. The only problem with the examination I saw was that every woman was standing. Now the ability to stand has not been in my repertoire [...]
An eleven-part educational series from the University of Alabama Birmingham is available free over the Internet.
By Phil Klebine, MA; James F. Roper, MD; Susan Camp, ARNP; Cheryl Lane, CRNP, CWCN; Beth L. Dinoff, PhD; and Marca L. Sipski, MD
Management of secondary conditions is one of the more significant concerns of individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI). With shorter hospitalization lengths of stays following acute injuries, health care professionals have less time to provide patient education directed at preventing and managing the short- and long- term effects of impairment. Although the full effects of these shorter lengths of stay have yet [...]
HO is a devastating condition that turns soft tissue into hardened bone.
By Tiffiny Carlson
It had been six years since the accident that resulted in my becoming a C-6 quadriplegic. And it was one of the most bizarre things I had ever experienced.
I realized something wasn’t quite right when I woke up one morning to find that the skin covering my entire right hip- area and right femur was red, blotchy, and warm. After closer examination, it was pretty clear that the muscles underneath the skin were also inflamed.
Over time, after developing into a harder form of bone matter, [...]
Two decades after a cervical spinal cord injury, Ken Ryno became determined to walk again.
by Michael Lee
Even though he’s been in a wheelchair for the past 23 years, Kenneth Ryno, 46, never let his spinal cord injury get the best of him. His doctors told him he would never walk again. He knew that within time, medicine and technology would improve, giving him and others a chance to walk again, but he wasn’t going to wait around for the next revolution in science technology. He simply focused on himself. “If I can’t get it done now then I’ll figure [...]
By Ed Lash
One of the most common complications with multiple sclerosis (MS) is a tricky bladder, primarily regarding frequency and urgency. This may cause some people to limit their fluid intake, thereby reducing the flushing action to eliminate waste products through the urinary tract and often resulting in a low-grade bladder infection, which only makes their bladder problem worse. An average of three pints of fluid goes out through urine daily. If the infection persists, a full-blown bladder infection may occur, which could not only bring on further MS symptoms, but may even lead to a life-threatening kidney infection. The symptoms [...]
Therapeutic riding offers many people with spinal cord disorders a fun way to improve balance, mental outlook and overall health.
By Celina R. De León
Brenda Smith (in chair) gave up most sports when she began
raising her children, but recently she’s discovered a
passion for horseback riding.
Brenda Smith of central Florida said it was three years ago when she realized she needed a change-a recreational change. “Sitting in a wheelchair for 25 years resulted in my body feeling weak and hunched over,” said Smith. “Plus, traditional physical therapy is boring.”
Smith acquired her spinal cord injury (SCI) in 1981, when she was [...]
Tripping the light fantastic can be good for your health and for your social life.
By Kelly Rouba
Cleveland’s Dancing Wheels modern dance company. People of all abilities can use any or all parts of their bodies to move to the music. (Photo by Dale Dong, courtesy of Dancing Wheels)
As a young man living in New York City, George Gallego often enjoyed going out for a night on the town and hitting the dance floors of some of the hottest clubs around. But, after a tragic accident at work left him paralyzed from the waste down, Gallego quickly decided his clubbing [...]
A respected recreation association shows how you can start a program for your own local wheelchair sports heroes.
Members of the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association Sports Camp team, one of the group’s many events promoting adaptive activities for people with disabilities.
By Michael Lee
Luanne Westenbroek, a tennis enthusiast from Grand Rapids, Michigan, first learned about wheelchair tennis while on vacation in California in the 1970s. She knew a group of local wheelchair athletes whom she thought might be interested, so she recruited a tennis instructor to work with three wheelchair athletes and thus began the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Tennis Foundation in 1980.
From [...]
By Kelly Rouba
“I love the massage therapy profession and I wanted to bring high quality massage education to a community that did not yet have a massage school,” says Ruth Marion, who founded Health Works Institute after moving to Montana in 2000. “I chose Bozeman because it is a small city with a good university, a wonderful natural foods co-op, and an active population of friendly people who love the outdoors and pursue diverse approaches to a healthy and vibrant lifestyle.”
Marion’s interest in massage therapy developed in the 1970s. Before founding Health Works Institute, she served as executive director of the Boulder [...]
By Ed Lash
A sufficient amount of water is important for everyone, especially for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). According to an issue of the University of California at Berkely Wellness Letter, “Water is the basis of all body fluids, including digestive juices, blood, urine, lymph, and perspiration. All cell processes and all organ functions depend on it. It’s essential as a lubricant: as the basis of saliva, mucous secretions through-out the body, and the fluids that bathe the joints. Water is needed to keep food moving through the intestinal tract and to eliminate wastes; it helps prevent constipation. Water also helps regulate [...]
Terrie L. Price, PhD, president of the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers (AASCIPSW), is director of Family Services at the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City in Missouri. Recently she made herself available for an interview with Action.
How long have you been a member of AASCIPSW? What roles have you played there before becoming president?
I’ve been a member 10 years and have previously served as Chairperson of the Clinical Practice Committee, and Member at Large and Vice President of the Board.
How did you come to be involved in SCI care?
My area of clinical [...]
By Ed Lash
In the last two columns, we looked at a surprisingly common aspect of multiple sclerosis (MS): the tendency of some people with MS to never perspire, even in warm and humid weather. We discussed some of the relatively serious health issues related to non-perspiration. Now we are going to look at methods to counter this deficit.
Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine
Edited by Andrea Pieroni and Lisa Leimer Price Haworth Press, Binghamton, New York. Softcover, 406 pages.
Reviewed by Gil C. Allen, MA, MS, PhD, DC
Eating and Healing:Traditional Food As Medicine is a compilation of articles written by various agricultural researchers who have descended on little known human cultural groups in different parts of the world to determine their indigenous knowledge of foods, plants and herbs used for sustenance and medicinal purposes. The book included charts of plants by botanical name and their uses in society, some black and white pictures of [...]
By Jenny M. Lieberman, MSOTR/L, ATP
As a clinician responsible for evaluating clients for wheelchairs for more than 10 years, I have developed an appreciation for and an understanding of the importance of a thorough assessment for those clients who are wheelchair mobile.
For each of my clients, multiple factors must be considered. The results of a physical assessment and an understanding of the client’s needs are important; however, equally, if not more important, is a clear understanding of the client’s expectations.
With this initial column in a series on the subject of wheelchair positioning and seating, I want to introduce you to this process [...]
By Ed Lash
As I mentioned in part one of this article in the previous issue, I was amazed at the answers I received when I asked at my multiple sclerosis (MS) support groups, “Do you perspire?” A number of people told me they did not perspire at all, or perspired hardly at all. Many had problems with normal sweating, but most had never thought of it as a symptom of MS. Except for occasional cool baths or swimming, however, hardly anyone took any other corrective action, or even thought there was much they could do. Almost no one mentioned it to [...]
In this issue of Action, we are focusing on various aspects of the family as it relates to spinal cord disorders (SCD). Because the drive to reproduce is so strong is us, it isn’t surprising that the desire to build family is no less urgent for many people after they are injured or diagnosed with an SCD. Many are fortunate to have children of their own, while many others find adoption to be the perfect solution for growing a household. Our families take many forms.
I would like to pose the perspective that United Spinal Association and its members also constitute a [...]
Multiple sclerosis can no longer be thought of as an adult’s disease.
By Kelly Rouba
Elaine Mackey
Sixteen-year-old Elaine Mackey has written a booklet to explain multiple sclerosis to her peers, more of whom, like Elaine, are being diagnosed with the disease than ever before.
Although she is only a freshman in high school, Elaine Mackey has already taken over a few health classes as “teacher for a day” in an effort to make her fellow students aware that children and teens can get multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease commonly associated with adults.
“Some kids who knew what MS was thought that only [...]
By Ed Lash
Multiple sclerosis (MS) poses many baffling questions. For example, why is it that some people with MS are affected by heat to such a great degree that they will be in a state of fatigue from the normal slight rise in body temperature which occurs in all of us each afternoon, while others with MS are not inconvenienced by this or other heat situations at all?
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