#GivingExpress: NextStep Fitness: Gym inspires hope in the paralyzed
By
Jacqueline Gulledge
Updated 12:55 PM EST,
Wed December 2, 2015
Morning Express’ sports correspondent Brian McFayden is passionate about all things sports and fitness, so it’s only natural that Brian selected NextStep Fitness as his charity for #GivingExpress.
NextStep Fitness in Lawndale, California, is a non-profit organization that founder Janne Kouri says provides a ‘progressive, state-of-the art, community based fitness, health, and wellness facility for people that are living with paralysis.’
NextStep Fitness utilizes a method of rehabilitation therapy called locomotor training. Locomotor training uses a treadmill and suspends a person above it. Then, therapists move the person’s legs in a stepping and walking motion, trying to retrain the spinal cord how to walk again.
“A lot of people do regain function. Some people get to walking again…the health benefits of locomotor training are just unbelievable,” says Kouri.