Word: spinal
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...Superhero, Super Man Actor Christopher Reeve [MILE-STONES, Oct. 25] was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a horse-riding accident in 1995. Afterward he devoted his life to publicizing the need for scientific research to successfully treat and heal spinal-cord injuries. TIME reported on his brave determination in an Aug. 26, 1996, cover story...
...THIS CAN'T BE MY LIFE. THERE'S BEEN A MISTAKE ... When John Kennedy promised that by the end of the 1960s we would put a man on the moon,' he says, 'everybody, including the scientists, shook their heads in dismay. But we did it. We can cure spinal-cord injuries too, if there's the will. What was possible in outer space is possible in inner space...
Every year, at least 200,000 Americans with chronic lower back pain turn to spinal-fusion surgery for relief. The Food and Drug Administration has approved an alternative called the Charité. It's an artificial disk--high- density plastic sandwiched between metal plates--designed to replace the natural fluid-filled disks of the lower spine when they are damaged by degenerative disk disease. Doctors hope the Charité, which has been used in Europe since 1987, will allow patients more freedom of movement than the spinal-fusion procedure...
Another approach the Reeve Foundation has helped fund involves treating the spinal cord with a drug called rolipram, which stops injured tissue from breaking down. Paralyzed rats treated with Schwann cells and rolipram have shown a 70% improvement in mobility. Elsewhere, researchers are working on ways to neutralize growth inhibitors, proteins in the body that--for reasons known only to nature--block the healing of spinal tissue. By synthesizing other proteins that inhibit the inhibitors, spinal cells may be freed to grow...
...body and could move most of his joints underwater. His doctors credited the turnaround to long hours of assisted exercise, particularly a regime of electrical stimulation that causes rhythmic contractions of muscles, allowing patients to ride a stationary bicycle and operate other equipment. Paralyzed animals show growth in spinal nerves after electrical exercise, and that may be what happened in Reeve's body...