It could be said that 2014 has been something of a “hope-expectation” rollercoaster for the paralysis community. A myriad of “breakthroughs” during the last 6 months have instilled a mixture of hope, cynicism and downright hysteria within the paralysis community and mass media.
Now that the dust has settled on the last two weeks, we thought it would be a great opportunity to share our thoughts about what has been a whirlwind year in the field of spinal cord injury research and what we can expect for the future.
See the post HERE about the fascinating rundown in the Neurokinex Autumn Newsletter.
Great article grammy! Let me just paste the ending of the article, as we cant stress out enough importancy of rehab!
Rehabilitation is crucial
As with any of the repair strategies on the horizon, rehabilitation will always play a key role in training new functional synapses, rebuilding muscles and co-ordinating new function in order to make use of it in everyday life. If we do want to capitalise on these breakthroughs in the future, it’s important that we maintain our muscle mass, bone density and range of motion whilst continuing to stimulate the nervous system in a variety of ways. The healthier the musculoskeletal system and spared spinal circuitry, the better position you’ll be in when the breakthroughs become a reality. This is why we feel our activity-based rehabilitation and wellness programmes will play a pivotal role in seeing these life-changing breakthroughs reach the community. Here’s hoping the rollercoaster continues into 2015 and beyond and we all get wiser to cutting through the media hype and down to the real scientific facts.