Articles

Recent research indicates that people with spinal cord injuries have an increased cardiovascular risk.  It has been suggested that heart disease is the primary cause of death in people with spinal cord injury.  People with a spinal cord injury are more at risk of coronary heart disease for three reasons:

Read more: Reducing Cardiovascular Risk After Spinal Cord Injury

A new study published in Clinical Rehabilitation had the objective to compare cycling interventions to reduce spastic muscle tone increase in patients with spinal cord injury.

The work by Krause et al was conducted in a Neuroprosthetic outpatient clinic in a university hospital.

Five patients with spinal cord injury took part in a crossover study in which the lower limbs (1) were stimulated by functional neuromuscular electrical stimulation (FES) to induce leg cycling movements and (2) were passively moved by an ergometer machine.

Read more: Study suggests FES helps spasticity in Spinal Cord Injury

The science behind stem cell treatment is still in the early stages

“Patients with debilitating diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s risk being exploited by websites offering expensive stem-cell treatments.” The Times reported. It said that a study had investigated the websites of 19 companies that offer such therapies. Researchers found that most make inflated or over-optimistic claims about the benefits, are not backed by evidence and make little or no mention of the risks involved.

Read more: Risks of Online Stem Cell Clinics

Michael Kjaer, in 2000 wrote one of the clearest, concise summaries of why exercise is vital in paraplegia. It puts the case for FES Cycling quite nicely and is worth a read.

Read more: Exercise Vital in Paraplegia