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Spinal cord case study
Spinal cord injury nbcot
Case study spinal cord injury
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Paralysis is the loss movement (and sometimes all feeling) in part or most of the body, most often caused by damage to the nervous system, especially the spinal cord. Paralysis has been shown to cause major difficulties and trauma to people that are affected by it, both who are paralyzed themselves and with families/friends that are paralyzed. For years, people with spinal cord injuries have been told by doctors that any movement they recovered would probably be in the first few months and improved mobility and feeling after two years was impossible. However, this is starting to change with the development of technologies that could reverse paralysis. If reversing paralysis is proved possible, it could be a monumental scientific advancement
Lou Gehrig's disease is often referred to as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), this is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons come from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the entire body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS would eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is also lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, for this reason patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed (Choi, 1988).
Until recently there was virtually nothing doctors could do for the 500,000 Americans who have strokes each year, the 500,000 to 750,000 who experience severe head injury, or the 10,000 people who are paralyzed after spinal cord damage (3). However, that is about to change. Researchers now think it may be possible to replace destroyed brain cells with new ones to give victims of stroke and brain injury a chance to relearn how to control their body, form new thinking processes, and regain emotions. After demolishing the long-standing myth that brain cells cannot regenerate or proliferate, scientists are developing ways to stimulate cells to do just that. Although stroke, head injury, and paralysis are three of the most devastating things that can happen to anyone, scientists have recently learned that the damage they cause is not preordained. It takes place over minutes, hours, and days, giving them a precious opportunity to develop treatments to halt much of the damage. Most of the new remedies are not yet available, but an explosion of research in the last five to ten years has convinced scientists that some of them will work (8).
Spinal Muscular Atrophy, also known as “SMA” is a genetic and also a motor neuron disease that affects the area of the nervous system that controls your voluntary muscle movements such as walking, crawling, and swallowing. When someone acquires this condition their muscles start to shrink as a cause to the muscles not receiving signals from the nerve cells in the spine that control function. Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a rare but serious condition.
This chapter will begin with a short explanation of what Muscular Dystrophy is and a general information paragraph over each type of the major muscular dystrophies today.
... damaged neurons. (Mayo clinic, 2014). This is called neuroplasticity, the ability for the nerves to compensate for damage caused by some outside force. Because of neuroplasticity physical training works to cure some of the paralysis left by the virus and allows us to walk again after the legs or another appendage is deformed or damaged.
It is reported by the CDC that 1 in 323 children in the U.S will be diagnosed with CP. Cerebral means having to do with the brain Palsy means weakness or problems with using the muscular tissues. The term cerebral palsy (CP) was originally coined more than a century ago and loosely translates as "brain paralysis." Even so, a precise definition has not been concluded because cerebral palsy is not a one diagnosis, simply an "umbrella" term that describes brain lesions that involve motor or postural abnormalities discovered during early development. CP is one of the leading causes affecting development and function in childhood from the fetal or neonatal period to up to age 3 years. Nevertheless, the diagnosis of cerebral palsy may not be made until after that time. Some advocate not getting a definitive diagnosis in sele...
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a degenerative disease affecting the human nervous system. It is a deadly disease that cripples and kills its victims due to a breakdown in the body’s motor neurons. Motor neurons are nerve cells in the brainstem and spinal cord that control muscle contractions. In ALS, these neurons deteriorate to a point that all movement, including breathing, halts. Muscle weakness first develops in the muscles of body parts distant from the brain, such as the hands, and subsequently spreads through other muscle groups closer to the brain. Such early symptoms as this, however, can hardly be noticed.
Mathematicians, medical doctors, neuroscientists, computer scientists, and a monkey are sitting in a room, they figure out how to remap the brain of paralyzed patients. This is no joke and was done by a team of researchers in 2002 at Brown University. Before a study like the aforementioned came along many would have ask what do a mathematician and a neuroscientist have in common. This is Johansson’s point; we have t...
Neuroscience refers to “the scientific study of the nervous system” It has been responsible for breakthroughs involving molecular, cellular, developmental, and medical aspects of human behaviors. Various organizations such as the “International society for neurochemistry” and the “European Brain and behavior Society” exist today to further the study of the nervous system and expand human understanding of medical and psychological ailments. The actual study of the nervous system dates all the way back to ancient Egypt where surgeons would drill holes into the human skull in order to alleviate a variety of aliments. The second half of the 20th century furthered the study of neuroscience via advancements in Molecular biology, and electrophysiology. These advancements are currently being used to study potential solutions to diseases such as (ALS) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, strokes, and brain trauma. This research is funded by credible organizations such as the (NIH) National Institute of Health and the “National S...
The Theme of Paralysis in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock "'I grow old. I grow old. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. What does that mean, Mr. Marlowe. Not a bloody thing.
L. R. Hochberg, M. D. (2006). Neuronal ensemble control of prostetic devices by a human with tetraplegia. Nature, 164-71.
You are lying in bed taking a much-needed nap. You have had a long day and this little refresher is just what you need. You are slowly becoming awake and aware of what is going around you. You can hear someone in the kitchen cooking and through the open window by your bed you can hear the sounds of the kids of the neighborhood jumping rope and playing hand games. You can even hear Old Mrs. Jones yelling at Little Johnny for running all over her flowers. You have been sleeping for about an hour and you feel that it is about time to get up. So you open your eyes, or at least you think you do. For reason some they are not open. So you think to yourself, "That is odd, I thought I mentally told my eyes to open?" So you try again, and this time you hear your voice in your head say, "Eyes open;" but again nothing happens. Now you think maybe you are really out of it, and that you must be extremely tired and just need to rub your eyes a little to get them moving. So next you try to move your arm, only it is stuck. Then you realize that your entire body is stuck. You think that this situation has to be unreal. You are awake; you have to be. You can obviously think to yourself, and you can hear everything that is going on inside and outside, but why are you not moving? You try to open your mouth and call for help, but you cannot do that either. You are completely paralyzed! Then you start to think this that is some sort of nightmare-and it is, except it is very much real. You are experiencing sleep paralysis.
I initially wanted to focus on the nerves located in the spinal cord so those who are paralyzed are not wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives. I soon realized if nerve pathways in the brain could be restored, then the same process could be applied to nerves in the spine. The reason why prosthetics are able to work is due to the fact that neural pathways in our peripheral nervous system (PNS), nerves that connect our limbs to the CNS, are able to regenerate on their own. These neurons are covered with Schwann cells that facilitate the regeneration of the axon, the part of the cell responsible for transmitting signals. Certain proteins located in the CNS, astrocytes and
Hemiplegia, a condition in which one-half of a patient's body is paralyzed usually results from stroke or cerebrovascular accident. Individuals affected by hemiplegia have difficulty dealing with frustration, swallowing, walking, forming words, dressing, feeding self and bowel/urine incontinence. Quality of life from the individual’s own perspective is paramount because hemiplegia leads to self denial, self care deficit and need for minimal to total dependence. Therefore the goal of treatment is to help the individual reach his or her fullest potential for independence, functioning and accepting who they are as individuals.
Did you ever awaken and find yourself unable to move? Perhaps you sensed a presence in your room or a pressure on your chest. This is sleep paralysis. It is a common disorder that affects millions of people. Most believe it occurs as we are on the edge of REM sleep. The disorder has been connected with such hallucinogenic events such as alien abduction or an evil presence. Sleep paralysis is an inability to move or speak, occasionally accompanied by hallucinations, for up to several minutes upon awakening or just before falling asleep.