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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Those who suffer spinal cord injuries may recover faster if forced to use their impaired limbs.
A new study demonstrates that rats forced to use impaired limbs experienced increased growth of healthy nerve fibers and new nerve cell connections. Experts say this information helps illustrate how physical therapy speeds recovery.
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After brain and spinal cord injuries, exercise-based physical therapy is the primary rehabilitative strategy in use today, Stephen Strittmatter, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurology and neurobiology at Yale University School of Medicine who is unaffiliated with the study, was quoted as saying. These therapies are so beneficial to patients, but the anatomical and molecular bases of improvement have not been clear.
Researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology forced rats with minor spinal cord injuries to rely on an impaired limb by placing the unimpaired one in a sling. The functionality of the rats was completely restored after three weeks and they were able to climb a ladder as well as uninjured rats. Injured rats that had not worn slings or those who wore slings that restricted their injured limb performed poorly and had a difficult time climbing the ladder.
In addition, researchers found that forcing the rats to use the injured limb turned genes related to nerve fiber growth and synapse formation on or off. Discovering what genes are involved in recovery may help with the development of new drug therapies.
We know that physical therapy is effective after brain and spinal injuries, but these new results suggest that a more aggressive therapy, in which the unimpaired limb is prevented from use and the impaired limb is forced to be used, might lead to new neural connections, John Martin, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University who is unaffiliated with the study, was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: The Journal of Neuroscience, September 17, 2008 issue
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