  Apr 01
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When Keith Smith recently got a new tablet, it wasn’t for watching videos or scanning social media. Instead, this tablet allows Smith, who has tetraplegia, more independent control of an implanted Medtronic Intellis neurostimulator, allowing him to better take advantage of the stimulator’s benefits for the disabling effects of a spinal cord injury. Smith received the stimulator two years ago while participating in a study involving individuals paralyzed by spinal cord injuries at the University of Louisville’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC). The stimulator has provided Smith benefits such as voluntary movement, increased trunk control and improved blood pressure regulation.
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Feb 17
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For the past decade, researchers at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center have studied the impact of epidural stimulation, which is a small amount of electrical current applied to the spine, on people with spinal cord injury. The technology has gotten better over the past few years, and now some patients are achieving what most believed would never be possible. One man celebrates his personal victory over paralysis, one milestone at a time. At the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, scientists use programmed electrical stimulation to help patients stand and control their core. Jerod is one of 38 patients with a stimulator inside his body. “The electrode is a 16-electrode array. It contains 16 contacts, and it is implanted in what’s called the lumbar sacral spinal cord,” Claudia Angeli, PhD, director of the Epidural Stimulation Program at the University of Louisville, explained.
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Feb 08
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Hoping to change the trajectory of spinal cord injury research, dubbed the “graveyard of neuroscience,” Henry Stifel and his father started a foundation to raise money and fund research that would give hope for recovery to people with spinal cord injuries. That foundation eventually merged with the American Paralysis Association and later with what now is known as the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, supporting research and advocacy for individuals with spinal cord injury.
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Sep 22
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Ashley Williams moved to Louisville more than a year ago to participate in spinal cord injury research with the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center. She now has hope for more independence. Ashley is a participant in our first randomized trial with epidural stimulation. The primary goal of that project is to look at the efficacy of epidural stimulation in regulation of blood pressure in individuals. Williams is already seeing some improvement. She is still in the very early stages post-surgery and is currently working on tasks like trying to bring her knees up to her chest. “I want people to know that just because I’m not walking doesn’t mean I haven’t made recovery,” Ashley said. “When I first came home from the hospital, I couldn’t move my right arm at all. I could barely twitch my left arm. Now, I can move both my arms. I can do all kinds of things.”
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May 05
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In 2014, Kosair Charities invested in a vision to provide the best care for spinal cord injuries, conduct cutting-edge research to guide our therapies, and to train the next generation of therapists, physicians, and researchers in a recovery-based program. With a $7.3 million investment, the University of Louisville’s Kosair Charities Center for Pediatric Neurorecovery was established for children with spinal cord injuries like Luke.
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Apr 26
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Researchers at the University of Louisville’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center and clinicians at Frazier Rehab Institute use ‘locomotor training’, a therapy designed to access the ‘smart’ spinal cord, even below the injury in paralyzed children to help them recover the ability to sit, stand, and in some instances, even walk again.
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Mar 16
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$7.8 million from NIH will fund development of a closed-loop system to monitor and adjust for multiple function use, wireless monitoring.
Researchers at the University of Louisville made news worldwide in 2018 when two people diagnosed with complete spinal cord injuries recovered the ability to walk thanks to experimental use of a therapy known as epidural stimulation. The news gave hope to people living with complete spinal cord injuries, a diagnosis that historically meant they were unlikely to regain function below their level of injury.Despite these significant results, use of epidural stimulation outside a research lab setting to restore function for people with spinal cord injury thus far has been hampered by several limitations, including the use of a technology that was designed for patients with chronic, intractable pain – not those with spinal cord injury.
Read the Entire Story in UofL News
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May 20
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WHAS 11 news story about one of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Rehab Center participants.
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Apr 03
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Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center participants were featured on the cover of the Spring 2019 edition of The University of Louisville magazine.
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Epidural Stimulation Program
Epidural Stimulation Timeline
Motor Control
Cardiovascular and Respiratory
Bladder, Bowel and Sexual Function
Publications – Epidural Stimulation |
