 On an auspicious day in 2004 at UCLA, with two of the leading scientists developing of a new form of rehabilitative therapy called Locomotor Training, Drs. Reggie Edgerton and Susan Harkema supervising, Christopher Reeve was placed in a body-weight support harness and ‘walked’ for the first time since the accident that rendered him paralyzed in 1995.
In that moment, and ever the philanthropist, Christopher Reeve’s desire was to see that that all persons affected with paralysis or neurological impairment of movement could once again know what it feels like to stand and experience their world. Thus, the NeuroRecovery Network® (NRN) was born. In the spring of 2005, Dr. Susan Harkema moved her Human Locomotion Research Center from UCLA to the University of Louisville. Through a collaborative partnership between Frazier Rehab Institute and KSCIRC which institutionally resides in the Department of Neurological Surgery, but is physically located in Frazier Rehab Institute, Frazier Rehab became the lead center in the fledgling NeuroRecovery Network. Fifteen years later, the NRN is an international system of clinical rehabilitation centers and community-based gym facilities that provide standardized, activity-based rehabilitation therapy, grounded in the most current scientific and clinical evidence, for people of all ages with spinal cord injuries or other neurological disorders. The NRN has grown to include 5 Adult Clinical Centers, 3 Affiliate Adult Sites, 2 Pediatric Clinical Centers, 2 Affiliate Pediatric Sites and 6 Community Fitness and Wellness Centers. Funded in part by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation through a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, members of the NRN work together, across institutions to share data and research findings in order to speed the translation of these latest scientific advances into the ongoing activity-based therapies. The goals of the NRN include:
The mission of the NRN is to achieve the vision of Christopher Reeve and his hope that all individuals living with paralysis but perhaps without financial means could have access to the kind of care that leads not to compensation for but to recovery from SCI. The NRN continues to support the work of member institutions and is seeking to expand the network globally. For more information about the NeuroRecovery Network contact the Reeve Foundation. Read the NeuroRecovery Network Publications |
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Community Fitness and Wellness Center Initial Evaluation and Recommendation Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network® |
