Research helps people with spinal cord injuries

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Research helps people with spinal cord injuries

A collaboration between ASU's Biodesign Institute and the Clinical Neurobiology & Bioengineering Research Center (CNBRC) at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center aims to assist people with spinal cord injuries to exercise, stand and possibly prevent the onset of chronic disease, such as diabetes, because of inactivity.
James Abbas, a researcher with the CNBRC and co-director of the Biodesign Institute's Center for Adaptive Neural Systems, is beginning four projects, each with a different focus for people living with spinal cord injury (SCI).
“We're trying to find means to assist people with SCI, either by providing some with a means to regain limited mobility, helping them to stand, or helping them to exercise,” Abbas says.
The first study to open will use an external electronic stimulator designed to give participants exercise in their legs. Twenty subjects, 10 with complete spinal cord injuries and 10 with incomplete injuries, will be recruited to participate in a 12-week exercise protocol with the device.
“People who cannot use their legs are at a higher risk of becoming obese and developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes,” Abbas says. “This device, which can be used at home, will provide wheelchair-reliant participants with a means to exercise their legs. We're interested to see how the muscle activity and circulatory flow can benefit these participants.”
This project is related to a second one that will study how the body responds to exercise after trauma such as SCI.
“We're interested in looking at the metabolic and immune systems change after an injury,” Abbas says. “Hopefully, this knowledge will then enable us to develop new therapies that can reduce or prevent these changes from occurring.”
In this study, participants will perform different types of exercise as the researchers monitor heart rate, breathing patterns and concentrations of hormones circulating in the blood.
Two studies will open later in the fall. They are:
• An implanted stimulation device that will enable people to stand.
• An external stimulation system to help retrain people to walk.
The implanted neuroprosthesis (electrical stimulation system) will

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