Reeve Foundation Selects Shepherd as Partner in Spinal Cord Injury Network

February 8, 2007

Contact: Larry Bowie (404-350-7708)

ATLANTA - Shepherd Center has partnered with the Christopher Reeve Foundation to learn more about the effects of locomotor training, specifically regarding the potential for helping people with paralyzing injuries retrain their legs to walk again.

The Foundation selected Shepherd Center to participate in its NeuroRecovery Network (NRN), which is a grant program involving only a handful of select hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the nation. The goal of the NRN is to improve the overall health and wellbeing of people living with paralysis as well as promote functional recovery. The program seeks to support the application of science and research into intensive locomotor training, which is an activity-based rehabilitation treatment.

New evidence shows vigorous repetitive exercise can encourage the brain and spinal cord to reorganize neural pathways based on the new sensory and motor information patients experience, a process known as neural plasticity. This neural plasticity can lead to an improvement in an injured person's walking and standing skills. Researchers with the NRN believe this type of exercise may also effect changes at the molecular level, improving axonal regeneration and neural communication.

Locomotor training also has been proven to improve cardiovascular and pulmonary functioning, promote the strength and healing-potential of the skin, increase blood flow to the arms and legs, increase bone density, and even improve bowel and bladder functioning among some patients. It also leads to improvements in emotional and psychological wellbeing. These health benefits are crucial to helping people living with paralysis lead healthier lives.

Shepherd Center's Director of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research, Deborah Backus, PT, Ph.D., says that becoming part of the NRN at this time is extremely exciting, as it provides another avenue for Shepherd Center to achieve its goal of improving the quality of life for individuals with SCI.

"This grant award comes at a time when Shepherd is making a concerted effort to advance its activity-based programs for individuals with both acute and chronic SCI," says Backus.

The NRN's three-year grant award of $450,000 has enabled Shepherd Center to hire new staff, and implement upgrades to existing equipment and facilities. There are also plans to add an additional locomotor training unit in the near future.


The NeuroRecovery Network's long-term goals include: maximizing the availability and quality of rehabilitative care for patients with spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders; developing a comprehensive database to track the success of activity-based therapeutic interventions; identifying the optimal locomotor training regimens for specific patient populations; and maintaining an administrative network that can supply logistical, technical, and personnel-based support for rehabilitation programs. The program is funded through a cooperative agreement between the Christopher Reeve Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Background on the NeuroRecovery Network

Not only is rehabilitation therapy vital for maintaining the general health of spinal cord injured individuals, but now evidence is accumulating that shows how vigorous repetitive exercise can exploit neural plasticity both above and below the injury site, leading to an improvement in walking and standing capacity. This type of locomotor training program may also bring about changes at the molecular level, improving axon regeneration and neural communication.

The CRF has launched the NeuroRecovery Network grant program to provide support for the translation of basic science and applied research into intensive activity-based rehabilitation treatments. This will also include the establishment of specialized centers that provide standardized care based on current scientific and clinical evidence. The program is funded by a joint agreement between the CRF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Initially the NeuroRecovery Network will support programs involving the therapeutic use of locomotor training using body weight support on a treadmill. The Network's longer-term goals include: maximizing the availability and quality of rehabilitative care for patients with spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders; developing a comprehensive database to track the success of activity-based therapeutic interventions; identifying the optimal locomotor training regimens for specific patient populations; and maintaining an administrative network that can supply logistical, technical, and personnel-based support for rehabilitation programs.

This program is funded by Grant/Cooperative Agreement Number U10/CCU220379 between CRF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Members of the NeuroRecovery Network (as of January 2006):

The NeuroRecovery Network at Frazier Rehab Neuroscience Institute and the University of Louisville, KY, Lead Center
Director, Susan Harkema, Ph.D.

The NeuroRecovery Network at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital
Philadelphia, PA Director, Mary Schmidt, P.T., M.S.

The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR)
Houston, TX
Daniel E. Graves, PhD, Director

Shepherd Center
Atlanta, GA
Deborah Backus, PT, PhD, Director

Advisory Board:

Moses V. Chao, Ph.D., Skirball Institute, New York University Medical Center
V. Reggie Edgerton, Ph.D., Departments of Physiological Science and Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles
Michael Fehlings, M.D., Ph.D., The Toronto Western Research Institute
Andrei Krassioukov, M.D., Ph.D., ICORD, University of British Columbia
Shelley Sorani, M.A., San Francisco, CA

About Shepherd Center
Shepherd Center is a private, not-for-profit hospital devoted to the medical care and rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular problems. Each year Shepherd Center admits more than 700 patients and conducts thousands of outpatient clinic visits. For more information, visit Shepherd Center online at www.shepherd.org.