A spinal cord injury, caused by trauma rather than disease, may be devastating, taking away not only a person’s ability to walk, but also affecting cardiovascular function, muscle composition, bone and fat mass, and quality of life. Rehabilitation is aimed at helping people with an SCI regain their independence. Many people with an SCI do not regain their ability to walk even though it’s a primary goal of rehabilitation. Locomotor training is an emerging way to address this problem, but reaction to it has been mixed.
The training is an intense workout that allows an individual with an SCI to step train on a treadmill using full body weight support. The participant is strapped to a harness that is connected to an overhead-motorized lift suspended over the treadmill. Once the treadmill starts moving, therapists move their legs, with the goal for the repetition to trigger what researchers are calling “muscle memory.”
The activity-based, rehabilitative therapy is based on the idea that mammals with spinal cord injuries can learn to step with their hind limbs on a treadmill when trained with sensory input associated with stepping. The theory is that comparable training may also promote recovery for human beings after an SCI.
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation touts its benefits: “Recovery of walking and balance can occur even years after injury in people with incomplete spinal cord injury who participate in locomotor training,” states a September media release that includes results from 11 peer-reviewed studies funded by them and published in the September issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
The Foundation is named after “Superman” star Christopher Reeve, who became the face of spinal cord injury prior to his death in May 2004, and his late wife, Dana Reeve, who died of lung cancer in 2006, after championing his legacy. "The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network is the fruition of Christopher Reeve's vision and the legacy he left us - to provide locomotor training to as many people as possible across the country," says Maggie Goldberg, a spokesperson for the Foundation.
But debate continues: “Body weight–supported treadmill training (BWSTT) and robotic-assisted step training (RAST) have not, so far, led to better outcomes than a comparable dose of progressive over-ground training (OGT) for disabled persons with stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or cerebral palsy,” an abstract of the May issue of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair states.
Still it is giving some people more hope. "It's just a great feeling to be up again,” says John Benedetto, in a testimonial about his participation in the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network, a network of rehab centers that deploy therapies such as locomotor training. The testimonial is on the Reeve Foundation’s website. Benedetto suffered a C6 SCI from a body surfing accident in July 2009, and he began the NRN program in December 2011. Prior to his accident, he was a runner and a baseball player, and he continues to participate in hand-cycling marathons. "I know that if I work hard and stay positive," says Benedetto, "I will continue to get stronger and become more independent."
But Tiffiny Carlson, a New Mobility.com blogger, is skeptical. “The issue I have with locomotor training is that it's being touted as pretty miraculous. It isn't,”’ she wrote. “This isn’t a challenge; I’m sure there are a lot of incompletes who it’s helped walk again, but for the completes….can it really help us walk?”
An anonymous blogger that went by the name “Priority Seating” and responded to Carlson’s blog on New Mobility.com indicated that the biggest benefit of locomotor training may stretch beyond walking to quality of life issues by strengthening leg muscles, and improving bladder and bowel function.
The training is an intense workout that allows an individual with an SCI to step train on a treadmill using full body weight support. The participant is strapped to a harness that is connected to an overhead-motorized lift suspended over the treadmill. Once the treadmill starts moving, therapists move their legs, with the goal for the repetition to trigger what researchers are calling “muscle memory.”
The activity-based, rehabilitative therapy is based on the idea that mammals with spinal cord injuries can learn to step with their hind limbs on a treadmill when trained with sensory input associated with stepping. The theory is that comparable training may also promote recovery for human beings after an SCI.
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation touts its benefits: “Recovery of walking and balance can occur even years after injury in people with incomplete spinal cord injury who participate in locomotor training,” states a September media release that includes results from 11 peer-reviewed studies funded by them and published in the September issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
The Foundation is named after “Superman” star Christopher Reeve, who became the face of spinal cord injury prior to his death in May 2004, and his late wife, Dana Reeve, who died of lung cancer in 2006, after championing his legacy. "The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network is the fruition of Christopher Reeve's vision and the legacy he left us - to provide locomotor training to as many people as possible across the country," says Maggie Goldberg, a spokesperson for the Foundation.
But debate continues: “Body weight–supported treadmill training (BWSTT) and robotic-assisted step training (RAST) have not, so far, led to better outcomes than a comparable dose of progressive over-ground training (OGT) for disabled persons with stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or cerebral palsy,” an abstract of the May issue of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair states.
Still it is giving some people more hope. "It's just a great feeling to be up again,” says John Benedetto, in a testimonial about his participation in the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network, a network of rehab centers that deploy therapies such as locomotor training. The testimonial is on the Reeve Foundation’s website. Benedetto suffered a C6 SCI from a body surfing accident in July 2009, and he began the NRN program in December 2011. Prior to his accident, he was a runner and a baseball player, and he continues to participate in hand-cycling marathons. "I know that if I work hard and stay positive," says Benedetto, "I will continue to get stronger and become more independent."
But Tiffiny Carlson, a New Mobility.com blogger, is skeptical. “The issue I have with locomotor training is that it's being touted as pretty miraculous. It isn't,”’ she wrote. “This isn’t a challenge; I’m sure there are a lot of incompletes who it’s helped walk again, but for the completes….can it really help us walk?”
An anonymous blogger that went by the name “Priority Seating” and responded to Carlson’s blog on New Mobility.com indicated that the biggest benefit of locomotor training may stretch beyond walking to quality of life issues by strengthening leg muscles, and improving bladder and bowel function.
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