In this area of the website you will find updates about Project Walk's Research and Development Program. These updates includes information about conferences that Project Walk attends, guest who visit the center and other scholarly information pertaining to SCI Research and Project Walk.

September 2008-November 2008

In September, Eric Harness, Director of Research and Development, was
accepted as an Associate Member of ISCoS (International Spinal Cord
Society).

On October 9-10, Eric traveled to Pismo Beach, CA to speak at the Annual SCI
Research Advancement fund-raising dinner. He spoke on the current advances
in exercise based training for spinal cord injury. The following day he
rode with our client, Chris Blais, in his first race after a SCI (see the
video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDvy3x5L2Mw ). The race was part
of the 2008 Oceano Beach Race and Festival, all of the proceeds from this
event go to support SCI research. On October 11, Eric presented at the
Annual CAPED (California Association for Post Secondary Education for
people with Disabilities) Conference in San Francisco, CA. There he
discussed the Project Walk program, current research projects he is involved
in, and how principles of the Project Walk program could be incorporated
into their adapted PE programs.

On November 7, Eric flew to Brisbane, Australia to visit our Certified
Provider, Walk On. He was there for two weeks to continue the training of
the staff at Walk On. Also while there, he met with the leaders of Spinal
Cord Injuries Australia ( www.scia.org.au ), the main force behind cure/care
research in Australia and a member of ICORD. They discussed the future
expansion of Walk On to other cities in Australia.

The research paper that Eric had accepted into the journal, "Spinal Cord",
was put into print this month and was selected as a featured article on the
journal's website ( http://www.nature.com/sc/index.html ). He is currently
working with his research partners, Steve Cramer M.D. (University of
California, Irvine) and Nuray Yoz-batiran Ph.D. (University of Texas,
Houston) to finish a second paper from the same study. He is also currently
working with Todd Astornio Ph.D. (California State University, San Marcos)
on two research projects, one involving substrate use in SCI during
multimodal exercise and another tracking bone density changes in SCI from
multimodal exercise. Eric and Dr. Astorino have also recently had a paper
accepted into the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine (not yet in print) and
have submitted another paper for publication.

August 2008

Eric Harness, Director of Research and Development, and Brian Malkinson,
Education Coordinator, recently spent a week in Orlando, Florida attending
the Congress of Spinal Cord Medicine and Rehabilitation Conference.  We had
a booth set up promoting our company's new direction and the new courses we
are offering to physical therapists and other healthcare providers.  They
made some really good contacts with major rehab organizations throughout the
country and spent a great deal of time educating people on our method. They
also attended lectures from top researchers on the latest topics. It was a
very productive week with an added bonus to our newest provider, Step it Up
Recovery Center, opening in the Orlando, FL area early next year.  Eric and
Brian did a lot of PR and marketing answering questions about the center.
Yet another Provider  with a waiting list before it opens!  We will continue
to send our staff around the country attending most of the major SCI
conferences.

June 2008

Research Published!

"Effects of Intense Exercise in Chronic Spinal Cord Injury"

Our research project that was done in collaboration with the University of
California, Irvine during 2006-2007 has produced the first ever published
paper on the effects intense multimodal exercise has in spinal cord injury.
The paper was accepted for publication in the journal Spinal Cord (a Nature
publication), and is currently available online ahead of print
(http://www.nature.com/sc/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/sc200856a.html).  Eric
Harness, Director of Research and Development at Project Walk is the lead
author, and Nuray Yozbatrian with Department of Neurology, University of
California, Irvine and Steven Cramer (Principal Investigator) with the
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, and the Reeve-Irvine Research
Center, University of California, Irvine are co-authors.

Some important findings:

• 71% of intense exercise (IE) subjects showed an increase in ASIA motor score over 6 months.
• 15 IE subjects had at least one muscle change from 0 to 1 or more on the ASIA scale.
• This group had a mean of 4.1 (3.2 in the lower extremities) muscles exhibiting this change.
• 7 IE subjects had at least one muscle change from a score of <3 (non-functional) to a score of ?3 (functional).
• This group had a mean of 2.0 muscles showing this change.
• The IE group had a mean increase of 4.8 points in ASIA Motor score over the six month period.
• Positive changes in Total ASIA Motor score correlated significantly with total time spent in intense exercise (r=0.53, p<0.014)
• Positive changes in ASIA Motor score in the lower extremities correlated significantly with total time spent in intense exercise (r=0.55, p<0.009)
• Positive changes in CHART (Craig handicap assessment and reporting technique) correlated significantly with total time spent in intense exercise (r=0.48, p<0.027)
• Time spent performing load bearing type exercises showed the highest correlation with the above outcome scores.
• Time spent performing active assistive exercises correlated significantly with positive changes in quality of life scores (r=0.47, p<0.03)

Research News - October 2007

The paper for the UCI research project has been submitted for editorial approval for publication. It could be a couple months before we find out if it will be accepted by the first journal. Keep checking back as this will be the first place we post about its status.

Eric Harness and Chris Corpuz went to the North American Spinal Cord Injury Conference and Disability Expo in Orlando, FL Aug 26-29. There they met with healthcare providers and SCI individuals interested in our program.

Eric Harness will be in Boston, MA on Oct 4 to meet with Wei-Lee Liao, MD and tour Spaulding Rehabilitation. While there he will be giving a presentation to some of the staff about our program. He will also be touring the Lokomat program Dr. Liao is involved in. From Boston, Eric will be traveling to Washington DC for the American College of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Society for Neurorehabilitation Annual Educational Conference where he will be speaking on Oct 6. The session he will be speaking at is titled “Update on Activity-based Therapy and Locomotor Training” and will run from 2-4pm.

Research News- March 2007

Our research project with UC Irvine has been completed. We are currently crunching the data and beginning to write up the study. We hope to have the write up completed and submitted for publication by June. We had a total of 21 Project Walk®participants and 9 control subjects. We would like to thank them all for their participation in this project.

Eric Harness and John Walters will be going to the National Spinal Cord Injury Association conference in Boston from the 13th to the 17th. They will be manning a booth in the exhibit hall to showcase our program to healthcare providers, and will be handing out information packets and answering questions.

Research News - Jan/Feb 2006

Our anticipated research project with the University of California Irvine has begun. Clients are currently visiting UCI for the first round of testing and will be scheduled for Project Walk®testing in the next few weeks. The following is a brief summary of what will be measured:

The study with UCI will be to test the hypothesis that intense exercise will improve motor system function more than the control (no exercise, to be evaluated in a separate, non-Project Walk®group). The primary endpoint measurement will be the ASIA scale. Secondary endpoints will include assessing eccentric leg press force, sitting balance, TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) measurements, fMRI (Functional MRI) of brain activation and anatomical measurements of spinal cord diameter.

These endpoints will be measured in two groups.  The first group of assessments will be performed twice, at U.C. Irvine, in all patients:  once at study baseline and a second time 6 months later.  These assessments are (1) motor behavior; (2) human brain mapping with fMRI scanning while patients attempt to move the right foot at 0.25 Hz; and (3) transcranial magnetic stimulation, which when placed over the leg motor area of the brain evokes a tiny muscle twitch in the leg muscles, the speed and magnitude of this evoked response are recorded.

The second group of assessments will be performed every three weeks.  For patients in the exercise group, these assessments will be performed at Project Walk.  These assessments are leg strength, leg range of motion, and body sway.  This will require participants to arrive at Project Walk®30 minutes before their scheduled exercise session once every three weeks.

Research News - October 2005

On September 28, 2005 , Dr. Anthony and Joann Nunnerly PT of the
Burwood Spinal Injury Unit in New Zealand came for a tour of Project Walk. They were on their way to the International Spinal Cord Society annual meeting in Munich, Germany and decided to make a stop over in Carlsbad to see our program. They get a lot of inquiries about Project Walk®from their patients and thought it would be a good idea to understand what we do. We were able to exchange ideas/thoughts on SCI recovery and we hope to be able to work with them in the future to bring our program to Christchurch, NZ.

Research News - May 2005

In May 2005, Dr Steven Cramer of the University of California Irvine visited Project Walk® to discuss some of his current and upcoming research projects. He presented an in depth analysis of a project he just completed on the effects of spinal cord injury and brain function. Many of our clients and specialists attended the presentation and found it to be very thought provoking. When he publishes this research we will definitely be featuring an abstract of it here.

I am currently working with Dr. Cramer’s team on a research project geared specifically toward measuring strength and functional gains in our clients here at Project Walk®. We hope to have this ready to go by the end of 2005 or the first months of 2006.