Radical Cooling May Minimize Spinal Cord Damage

When a person breaks his or her neck, the delicate and vital nerve tissue of the spinal cord can be torn, setting in motion a cascade of dying nerves up and down the spine.

But a new technique that runs icy cold brine into the veins of spine injury victims to reduce their body temperature to 92 degrees for two days appears to hold promise to protect them from the cascading nerve damage and offer them hope to move and feel again.

"You have these secondary injury mechanisms that lead to progression of damage, and that's where we are working in the laboratory to develop new strategies, new drugs, new therapies to target that secondary injury," said Dalton Dietrich III, of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. According to the most recent data available, there are about 11,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries annually in America.

As of June 2006, there were some 253,000 people living with such injuries. In animal studies, Dietrich said, "we found that if you lowered the temperature of the spinal cord after injury, we could actually improve motor function. The rats walked better. Also, if you looked at the pathology of the spinal cord, there was preserved tissue."

With such promising results, an experimental study was begun in humans, with the first patient being "cooled" in January 2006. "So far, it looks like it's safe," Dietrich said. "We've gotten some good results. It appears to limit secondary injuries that can lead to progression. Spinal cooling does a lot of good things. Cooling a patient a couple degrees seems to work very, very well."

Unlike drugs, which tend to work on just one tiny issue at a time, cooling seems to target multiple trauma issues at once, stopping nerve cells from dying, Dietrich said. This protects the communication between brain and muscles, and vice versa, opening the way for the patient to regain the ability to move, walk and feel in the weeks and months following his injury.

Spine Force Machine for Herniated Discs

The Spine Force machine is the only device capable of stimulating the deep muscles of the spine. A groundbreaking device called the Spine Force has the potential to transform how we care for the muscles and structures in the lower back. LPG Systems is a France based company that has developed this machine to stimulate the deep connective tissue within the spine that can break down with sedentary lifestyle habits. With the advent of the Spine Force, health practitioners who specialize in treating spinal diseases and disorders may now have a resource to ensure that patients don't have recurring spinal problems.

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Power Plate Technology Can Aid Physical Therapy

For physical therapists who treat patients suffering from back pain and weakened core muscles, the Power Plate is a beneficial piece of technology. The machine vibrates to stimulate reflexive muscle contractions 25-50 times per second. The Power Plate increases blood circulation to core spinal and abdominal muscles that have weakened over time due to sedentary lifestyle habits. For people who are lacking in their level of fitness, the Power Plate is designed to ease the difficult transition from an inactive to an healthy lifestyle. While it remains unclear whether this vibration technology can replace other forms of exercise, some physicians believe it can greatly complement any exercise or physical therapy regimen.

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One Simple Solution to Neck Pain: Good Posture

Treating and preventing chronic neck pain can often be successfully accomplished by something as simple as adopting correct posture while waking and sleeping. While the pain sufferer can treat the symptoms of frequent neck "cricks" with neck stretch exercises, painkillers or ice applications, the symptoms' root causes must be dealt with differently. These root causes often involve some kind of poor posture, says Dr. Brian Bruel, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation on the one hand, and anesthesiology and pain management on the other, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Posture violators might crouch over a desk all day long, slouch on a sofa while watching TV, or contort themselves while reading.

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