mitch's blog

I had another workout yesterday at Project Walk, I focused a lot of decreasing the tightness in my hips as well as strengthening my quads. My right quad I can contract myself, however I can not at all with my left quad, so my trainer hooked up some functional electrical stimulation pads on various areas of my quad and this time I could actually feel the electrical shocks (we tried this a few months ago and I could not feel anything) and some of my quad muscles contracted slightly.

This is mainly for me to keep track of when things are returning, but today I felt my Achilles tendon on my right leg for the first time whenever I manually pull my right foot up. 

So I have not updated my progress in quite some time, I have been sick the past week or so and unfortunately my temperature regulation is all messed up, one minute I will be sweating profusely and the next freezing. I have also been in a tremendous amount of pain lately, mainly in the thighs, I am hoping that indicates more return. 

I just jumped in my pool from my wheelchair and treaded water. I am so excited!

WATCH VIDEO

My alma mater, Case Western Reserve University, joins clinical trials to help people with paralysis regain some control back. Cleveland pioneered FES (functional electrical stimulation) technology over 20 years ago, and is now implanting small electrodes inside the brain to record brain signals sent when someone imagines moving their arms, and using this signal in combination with assistive devices to move their hands and arms. Amazing!

Yesterday was by far the hardest workout I have had at Project Walk. Check out my videos, I started the session off by pedaling the stationary bike while standing, a few times on each leg. I then did an exercise where I only used my lower back muscles to move myself back and a combination of my back muscles and abs to lift myself back up.

In the past 2 weeks I have seen an incredible amount of return. As I posted earlier, it began when I was able to first move my left foot and wiggle my toes, then at my most recent Project Walk session I was able to contract my left quad for the first time and in the last week or so a lot of sensory functions have returned to the lower portion of my right leg (below the knee). At my most recent appointment with my neurologist I was able to detect vibration all the way down to my ankle on my right leg!

I just moved my left foot and wiggled my toes for the first time.

Alright so a lot of people are against sharing the medications they have taken, I really do not care. Since my injury I have taken various medication for various purposes and have come to the conclusion that in the scope of a spinal cord inury, most medications (that I have taken) are intended for something else, but have other applications in an SCI. For me, a lot of these medications work at first (the first few weeks) and then for some reason really did nothing after that.

Last Friday I had my second session at Project Walk. During this session we primarily focused on strengthening my quads. I started doing some squats to strengthen my quads and work on locking and unlocking my knee, then the trainers helped me stand up, with one trainer locking my left knee and the other was helping my balance and supporting some of my weight. I did this exercise for a while, really working my quads which my right quad hurt for a few days afterwards as this was the first time I really strenuously strengthened this muscle.