Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: The Healing Benefits of Oxygen and Breathing Deeply

What’s a spinal injury victim’s best recovery tool? No, not his or her spinal injury attorney in Cleveland, though we certainly can help lead the path to recovery – especially financially. We’re talking about breathing. A patient’s health can vastly improve simply by breathing a little more.  A recent study from the University of Alberta discovered surprising benefits in oxygen.

The study found that more oxygen through the spinal cord can improve blood flow, and thereby increase motor functioning for better walking, movement and balance.

Neuroscientists found that spinal blood flow in rats was unexpectedly compromised following a spinal injury. Improving blood flow or simply inhaling more oxygen produces lasting improvements in cord oxygenation and motor functions.

“We’ve shown for the first time that spinal cord injuries (SCI) lead to a chronic state of poor blood flow and lack of oxygen to neuronal networks in the spinal cord,” says co-principal investigator Karim Fouad, professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and Canada Research Chair for spinal cord injury. “By elevating oxygen in the spinal cord we can improve function and re-establish activity in different parts of the body.”

A Deep Breath for Progress, but Still a Long Way to Go

Though there is still much to learn when it comes to treatment, this discovery is a big step.

“Possibly even simple therapies such as exercise or just breathing will play a role in preventing long-term hypoxia and damage to the spinal cord, Fouad told Science Daily. “It’s a small but important step in the right direction, stemming from studying an obscure enzyme in the spinal cord — and that’s the beauty of basic science.

And that is good news for the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: Metro-Health Grant Announced

Clients of our Cleveland spinal injury attorney should take note of some good news that might directly benefit them one day, to say nothing of spinal injury victims everywhere:

The Cleveland Metro-Health System recently announced $2.26 million in grant funding to conduct studies on spinal injury and recovery.

“This will allow us to attract more (spinal care) patients for care,” said Dr. Gregory Nemunaitis, director of Spinal Cord Rehabilitation at MetroHealth.

Designated over a five year period, the grant will enable the center to, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“Collect data on the recovery of people with spinal cords injuries that will provide a database for future research and care.

Assess recovery patterns in the arms and hands of people with spinal cord injuries to develop guidelines for treatment to restore upper extremity function.

Redesign a spine board used to transport patients from the scene of an injury to the hospital. Led by MetroHealth in collaboration with the University of Toledo’s Department of Engineering, the research will focus on reducing pressure ulcers.”

MetroHealth treats about 100 traumatic spinal cord injuries a year. The announcement of this funding should be good news for them as well as clients of Cleveland spinal injury attorneys.

From the Desk of Our Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: Robotic Therapies Help People Regain Function

Here’s some good news for the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland. While helping spinal injury victims become more mobile, researchers in Brazil discovered that interacting with robot-like machines could help them regain some sensation and movement.

Published in Scientific Reports, the findings suggest that spinal injury victims may be able to retrain brain functions through repetition and practice.

While the eight paralyzed people did not regain the ability to support their own weight standing up, they did make partial recovery including the use of bowel and bladder functions. Some men were even able to have erections. One woman was even able to deliver a baby vaginally.

“For the first time in many years they were able to voluntarily control their muscles,” Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroscientist and physician with Duke University who led the research, told NPR. “They could move their legs or contract muscles under voluntary control. This has not been seen before. I call this an important milestone.”

Indeed, this remarkable finding could meaningfully change the lives of the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Could a Global Data Base Help the Clients of a Spinal Injury Attorney in Cleveland?

Australian spinal cord injury experts are currently lobbying their federal government for a national registry of patients to track treatments in an effort to improve conditions. Advocates for the effort contend that millions of dollars could be saved in treatment, not to mention that victims’ lives could be substantially improved. It is an effort any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland could get behind.

“We have pools of acute data in the spinal units around Australia, we have some rehab data,” Chris Bertinshaw from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Network told ABC. “None of it is connected, and we have no information once they leave rehab.”

The proposed registry would track patients throughout their lifetimes, noting treatment, medications and any complications. Such data could substantially improve treatment and in the process help patients lead more fulfilling lives.

“We don’t know what treatment works and what doesn’t work, and we don’t know the risks involved,” Jonathan Tang, a spinal injury patient and wheelchair racer, told ABC.”[A registry] will allow us to answer questions such as, if I had a kidney infection, what would be the best medication to use.”

Who knows? Perhaps other countries will launch similar efforts and combine databases into a universal resource? That would definitely be promising news for anyone who needs a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Electronic Implants Respond to Brain Waves of Spinal Injury Patients in Cleveland

Every day, the clients of any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland face a brighter future. Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland recently used electronics to enable a spinal injury patient to use an implant in his brain to move his arm and hand.
The test marks the first time brain signals have been conveyed directly to electrodes placed in an arm to restore movement, according to Robert Kirsch, a biomedical engineer at Case Western.
The project is a big step towards wireless systems being able to transmit brain signals over airwaves to electronics implanted in the limbs or paralyzed patients. Yet there is still much progress that needs to be made.
“It’s not a fluid natural movement like you are picking up a cup of coffee to drink it,” says John Donoghue, one of the leaders of of BrainGate, a consortium that is developing brain-computer interfaces with the Case Western team told the MIT Technology Review. “But the fact that they got a person to control their own body, to stimulate muscles in a specific way to make them move, and do it from a small patch of brain, is incredible.”
The research is a big step forward that can drastically improve the lives of spinal patients. “If I could take the system I am using right now home with me, I would do it in a heartbeat,” said Ian Burkhart, the participant in the Ohio State study. “There are limitations to it, but they’re easily outweighed by the benefit of being able to grasp something and move it around.”
And that’s good news for both patients and any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

StemCells Inc. has Good News for Clients of Spinal Injury Lawyers in Cleveland

Offering good news for any client of a spinal injury lawyer in Cleveland, StemCells Inc. recently reported its experimental stem cell therapy improved functioning and strength in the limbs of spinal cord injury patients.

That makes Stem Cells Inc. the second research company to recently report promising results for spinal therapy research as a result of stem cell studies. Last August, Asterias Biotherapeutics said its research indicated stem cell therapy could improve mobility for patients.

No serious adverse effects have been found in the study. The next two years for the company should prove critical.

“In a year from now, our goal would be to complete the enrollment in the study and get final results in 2017,” Chief Financial Officer Greg Schiffman told Reuters.

“The early analyses of motor improvement from the first cohort of the Pathway Study are consistent with an evolution of the sensory outcomes seen in StemCells’ previous thoracic study,” said Armin Curt, MD, the principal investigator at the University of Zurich for the Company’s previous Phase I/II thoracic spinal cord injury study, in a statement. “The emerging data are the first clinical evidence of a treatment effect improving muscle strength and function following cellular transplant in spinal cord injuries. These findings are even more compelling given that all the patients are between one and two years post injury.”

Thanks to stem cell research, clients of a spinal injury lawyer in Cleveland face a much brighter future. It may take several years to develop, but the research prompts brighter optimism as more about this incredible science is discovered.

Clients of Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorneys May Be Eligible for Stem Cell Study

Clients of spinal injury attorneys in Cleveland may be eligible for a new study designed to improve treatment through stem cell research.

Rush University Medical Center scientists are researching a potential new therapy to use human embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries within 14 to 30 days of an injury. The stem cells contain progenitor cells that support nerve cells and can potentially make poorly functioning nerves function better.

“There are currently no therapies which successfully reverse the damage seen in the more than 12,000 individuals who suffer a spinal cord injury each year in the United States alone,” Dr. Richard G. Fessler told Science Daily. Fessler is a professor of neurological surgery at Rush University Medical Center and principal investigator for the Phase 1 clinical trial involving AST-OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells).

“These injuries can be devastating, causing both emotional and physical distress, but there is now hope. This is a new era where we are now able to test whether a dose of stem cells delivered directly to the injured site can have an impact on motor or sensory function,” says Fessler. “If we could generate even modest improvements in motor or sensory function, it would result in significant improvements in quality of life.”

The trial will test three escalating doses of AST-OPC1 in patients with subacute, C5-C7, neurologically-complete cervical spinal cord injury.

“In the future, this treatment may be used for peripheral nerve injury or other conditions which affect the spinal cord, such as MS or ALS,” Fessler said.

The trial is currently looking for patients, many of whom may be the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Talk to Your Cleveland Spinal Injury Lawyer about the Benefits of Stem Cell Research

Victims of spinal injury can take heart. Stem cell research may offer much needed treatments and relief. But they’ll need to be patient, as progress in this field has been slow. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research pulled its funding from stem cell research two years ago on the grounds that it preferred to invest in research that could provide more immediate help. Still, researchers have been slowly learning how to implement stem cells in progress that has been pragmatic, if not singularly transformational. It’s enough for Cleveland spinal injury lawyers to tell their clients there is hope, but in the meantime they’ll have to learn to live with their condition and make the best of it.

At least 4,500 clinical trials involving stem cells are working to develop treatments for heart disease, blindness, Parkinson’s, H.I.V., diabetes, blood cancers and spinal cord injuries, according to the New York Times. Early studies indicate stem cells can be delivered safely, but the real question remains on how much progress they can make when it comes to treatment.

“Now what we want to know is: Will it work, and will it be better than what’s already out there?” Dr. Ellen Feigal, senior vice president of research and development at the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, told the New York Times.

The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine is the state stem cell agency which has awarded more than $2 billion towards stem cell research since 2006. It has enrolled patients in at least 10 clinical trials this year alone.

Hope is on the horizon, but the journey is long. In the meantime, victims of spinal injuries are best left working with their Cleveland spinal injury lawyer to protect their rights, ensure a financial future and learn to best live with their condition. Life goes on, and healing progresses with time.