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| PHASE 1: Reactivation |
and |
PHASE
2: Development/Stabiization |
|---|
First
Steps Wellness Centre starts once a spinal cord injured person leaves
the hospital. We work with all types of injuries (ASIA A to ASIA D), as long
as the person can breathe on his/her own, does not have severe osteoporosis,
and has obtained a doctor’s clearance to start an intensive exercise
program.
Reactivation or reorganization of the nervous system is what seems to cause the most controversy regarding The Dardzinski Method™. The program was started with the belief that a nervous system traumatized by a spinal cord injury could reorganize itself when introduced to proper external stimulation. Recent research has confirmed that the central nervous system can reorganize itself after spinal cord injury (2-5). However, without proper external stimulation the human nervous system will deteriorate after injury. When the nervous system is medicated with drugs that interfere with correct sensation and prevent errant muscle contractions, when it is exposed to treatment that refuses to stimulate the paralyzed body parts, how can it be expected to improve? NASA and the Russian space programs have both spent millions of dollars researching how the body deteriorates when exposed to reduced gravity, including loss of bone density and muscle mass (1,6-8). Place a person with a spinal cord injury in a power chair (reduced gravity), pump them full of drugs, and leave them alone--what do you expect will happen; nothing. At First Steps Wellness Centre we are attempting to reactivate the nervous system with a goal of developing it into a more functional system. We will never guarantee that a client will walk because the truth is, we don’t know. What we do know, is that a method has been developed that can aid the injured nervous system in regaining lost function.
Many clients of Project Walk are now controlling their muscles below the level of injury. However, time and time again, we hear they are doing so because they are incomplete injuries. This is untrue. Some started the program many years post injury when “spontaneous” recovery should have plateaued; others were diagnosed complete injuries in the hospital, but have regained enough function to now be considered incomplete.
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