Designed to Move by Joan Vernikos

Author:Joan Vernikos
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Linden Publishing
Published: 2016-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

PEOPLE WITH PARALYSIS AND RELATED CONDITIONS

Spinal cord injury (SCI), with its accompanying lower body paralysis, is a form of chronic forced sitting. Along with bed rest, it has served as a model of sedentary behavior resembling the experience of astronauts in space, as they essentially do not use their legs. Of course, astronauts return from space and can recover by walking about on Earth, but most individuals with spinal cord injury face severe limits on the extent of recovery that is possible for them. Nevertheless, what we know about gravity and its effects can be used to help these individuals and others who, for one reason or another, need to use a wheelchair for all or part of their daily mobility needs.

Those who need to use wheelchairs can still benefit from harnessing gravity to the extent that their bodies are able, or can become able, to do so. It used to be thought that paraplegics could not sit up because they had a tendency to faint when they tried to sit, so they spent their entire life in a supine position. Eventually, though, it was figured out that the problem was one of circulation (hypotension, a drop in blood pressure with the postural change of sitting up) rather than the result of their severed nerve supply. Thus, it became apparent that, just as in returning astronauts, this blood pressure drop could be prevented. The body perceives and reacts to this postural change all the same because the sensors that control this blood pressure response are above the point of spinal cord damage.

This discovery changed the lives of persons with SCI. Assuming that a good part of the head-ward stimulus is due to circulation, which remains intact, postural change signals from lying down to sitting up frequently continue to be beneficial. This holds true not only in individuals with spinal cord injury, but also for many with other conditions that make it a challenge to sit up, and even for “normal” healthy patients during post-surgery rehabilitation.

The next step for those with spinal cord injury was to exercise their upper body. Some of them can reach exceptional levels of strength and endurance through upper body physical exercise, though they must cope with forced physical inactivity due to lack of nerve stimulation of the lower body. Extraordinary athletes emerged in wheelchairs on cross-country runs, on the tennis and basketball courts, and even on ski slopes in specially designed chairs.

Creative technologies were the result. Organizations developed by Andrea and Craig Kennedy like Access Anything: I Can Do That! and Adaptive Adventures, working state by state, opened up endless possibilities for individuals with spinal cord injury and other motor disabilities to participate in stimulating activities like travel and sports. One promising invention is the StandUp Wheelchair made by The Standing Company (based in Michigan). Designed for those who cannot stand on their own, this wheelchair holds the person in an upright position. To change position at regular intervals, some persons may still require help, but

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