{"id":403487,"date":"2010-03-08T12:08:09","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T17:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com\/?p=13282"},"modified":"2010-03-08T12:08:09","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T17:08:09","slug":"re-learning-to-walk-on-submerged-treadmills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/403487","title":{"rendered":"Re-Learning to Walk on Submerged Treadmills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine being confined to a wheelchair or reliant on a walker and suddenly being able to walk.\u00a0 That is exactly what is happening in a physical therapy lab at Middle Tennessee State University near Nashville.\u00a0 Researchers are using treadmills submerged in 270 gallons of water to see if patients with spinal cord injuries can regain the ability to walk again. \u00a0It\u2019s a breakthrough therapy that has seen meaningful results.\"underwater\u00a0\u201cEverybody who has been through the study has demonstrated improvement and primarily that has been in lower extremity strength and balance and cardiovascular endurance,\u201d said Sandy Stevens, an MTSU physical therapist who is conducting the study.\u00a0Walter Searcy III has been wheelchair bound for almost eight years after being diagnosed with a rare cancer in the spine.\u00a0 For him, getting in the tank is the only opportunity he has to stand upright and walk unassisted.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI certainly have increased stamina and\u00a0reduced [my] pain threshold,\u201d said Searcy. The water provides a warm and safe environment. Every time Searcy walks on the track he strengthens his muscles, improves his balance and simply re-learns how to walk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stevens believes that we are all inherently wired to walk, something she says is evident when you watch infants and toddlers struggle to take their first steps.\u00a0 She believes the therapy on the underwater treadmills will regenerate damaged cells in the spinal cord that allows disabled patients to take steps again. \"underwaterTraditional methods use a harness and robotics but this method, makes the patient responsible for moving his or her own legs. The buoyancy of the water \u2013 a sort of zero-gravity weightless effect- makes movement much easier.\u00a0 For 66-year old Bunny Nichols, the feeling is liberating, \u201cI can stand a little bit on my own now where before I couldn\u2019t,\u201d said Nichols.<\/p>\n

Nichols is about halfway through her therapy at MTSU. \u00a0The study, which ends in the summer, lasts about eight weeks at a time. Researchers work with patients like Nichols up to three times a week.\u00a0 Each session lasts about 30 minutes, depending on the patient\u2019s strength. \u00a0Nichols says although she doesn\u2019t expect a miracle, she does hope to walk without her walker someday and so far- she\u2019s three steps closer to that goal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“I can stand a little bit on my own now where before I couldn\u2019t,\u201d\u00a0 Nichols says about the first time she took steps on her own.\u00a0 \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it but I was like \u2018thank you, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine being confined to a wheelchair or reliant on a walker and suddenly being able to walk.\u00a0 That is exactly what is happening in a physical therapy lab at Middle Tennessee State University near Nashville.\u00a0 Researchers are using treadmills submerged in 270 gallons of water to see if patients with spinal cord injuries can regain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}