MY INTENSIVE REHAB

SEPT 2008 - WALKING BETWEEN BARS, WITHOUT KAFO, ACCORDING TO DIKUL'S METHOD (TRYING)




APRIL 2008 - STILL TRYING TO WALK(THIS TIME, TRYING WITHOUT THE LONG LEG BRACES)

One of the first attempts, at Dikul Wroklaw Rehab Center- Poland
see movie



Further attempt (see comments below):

This was one further attempt, but this time with much less support (still very difficult)to 'walk' as per Dikul's method. April 18th, 2008. I'm not there yet, as you can see on the movie, but...

important remark: I have a spinal cord injury level T10-T12 since 2001 (SCI which is as good as complete). I was able to walk with long leg braces already before this rehab with a walker or quadripodes, as a result of training f/exercising for 6 years. The purpose of the short rehab at Dikul Poland center was to learn how to walk without long leg braces, ie locking my knees by myself. It remains difficult for me, still a lot of support from the physiotherapist is needed, but does not seem to be impossible (locking the knees occurs through mechanical effect of putting the hips forward, and is not a consequence of quadriceps muscles recuperation!).

This nevertheless represents a nice challenge and prospect. Never give up!

PAST REHAB EVENTS

These are my very first steps [actually about 3 steps immediately followed by about 3 hours sleeping ! ] after my accident, in November 2001, in Garches Hospital (Paris).
I practice walking with long leg braces on regular basis as of November 2001 and will do until I can do it with shorter braces if ever possible.


Update December 2006: During 6 months, my intensive rehab program (Nijmegen Sint Maartens Kliniek, the Netherlands) consisted of exercising with my lower body for 3 to 3.5 hours/day. Believe me or not, when you have no muscles to do so, it's pretty tiring !!

Later-on in 2006, I switched to 1.5-2 hours per day, trying to focus on quality of exercises rather than quantity.

Nowadays, ie as of December 2006, preparing my return to a 'normal life', ie resuming my job most probably as of January 2007, I limit myself to 1 hour per day, including a combination of various exercices during the week [walking with calipers, biking on the Motomed homebike, swimming, contracting any existing hip, buttocks, leg muscle, standing on powerplate+standing frame], and also work on my condition by practicing handbiking on a regular basis.

See videos, [be patient !] movies or pictures attached to each exercise, under this link :

1. Supported ambulation training*
2. Biking with Motomed-

3. Walking with walker + long leg braces.
4. Walking with long leg braces+ quadripodes : see the last minute of the TV program, click on video under this link to TweeVandaag to see me walk with braces and quadripodes. [July 2006]

5. Leg muscles training on 'slingertisch'

6. Biking with a hometrainer-

7. Standing in a standing unit + a trill-plate -

8. Swimming
9. Horse riding
10. Taishi-

If you are intested in finding more information about intensive rehabilitation programs proposed by various specialised institutes, you may check out this recent article by dr L. Johnston

NEW [TINY] MUSCLES [update July 2006] !!!

===================

What are the results ? Well, my spinal cord injury is officially 'complete', meaning that the nerves are either partially cut or very damaged, so nobody should expect miracle from intensive therapy.

Nevertheless, my objective was to prove that it is worth trying, and that people who want to go for such intensive therapy should be allowed to do so ! Again it is a question of money, the costs involved are huge ! but it is also a question of mind set. The 'I will never walk again' mindset is killing ! Motivated patients should be given the possibility to access the new therapy technics and get the best out of it.

As far as I am concerned, the results do not make a big difference in my daily life, but they are still worth mentioning ! And think of the impact it can have on a patient whose injury is actually incomplete. It is well known that most people stop rehabilitation too early and could get more out of it ! That is the reason why I started my intensive therapy and will continue it over the coming months, at home.

Guess what, during my last session at the rehab center, I heard my preferred physio-therapist say twice "ongelooflijk", thus 'incredible' ! Twice in the same day !!! These words are so good to hear ! We were just looking at the EMG screen, and seeing that I do have a few additional muscles that i can control below my injury. The thickest line that you see on the first picture is my left gluteus muscle [buttocks]. The other lines you see on the second picture are my right quadriceps, right biceps femoral, right gluteus and then again the left gluteus. But beware ! Don't believe i gonna walk tomorrow. Some of these muscles are so extremelly weak that they cannot even be detected without the EMG. And getting them stronger is not just a question of training and willpower. In the case of a complete spinal cord injury, the message from the brain to the muscles is strongly impaired.

I do personally believe that that message can be somehow stimulated through some physical and cerebral activities and that maybe another path can be found to bring the right signal to the muscles, since the regular path is 'blocked', but the reality is, although I have been exercising for years, my quadriceps, which appeared already in 2002, although it grew, remains very weak and not functional. Its strengh might have been multiplied by 10 thanks to 4 years efforts, but it is still at a level 1 , equalling to almost nothing compared to what is needed to stand up or walk. Given the number of muscles i have and the strength of them, I am well in line with my original target being to be able to stand up on my own by 3099 and to make my first unsupported step in 5099 ! That's how things are. But it is not a problem. Progress is progress, however small it may be.

It is one more proof that the 'impossible' can be reached . "Pour un clin d'oeil avec l'impossible'- For a wink with the impossible - ! At the end though, much more will be needed to get us back on our feet, we do need breakthrough therapies, most probably including a combination of stemcells, pharmaco- and gene-therapies, as many specialists say.