Mission and History

Mission

Project Walk® exists to provide an improved quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries through intense exercise-based spinal cord injury recovery programs, education, support and encouragement.

The History of Project Walk

2011:

Project Walk continues to grow becoming the worlds largest SCI Recovery Center and moves it’s World Wide Headquarters into a state-of-the-art 24,000 square foot center.

2010:

The sixth annual Steps to Recovery event is broadcast over the internet for the first time. In a little over ten years Project Walk has treated thousands of clients from 46 states and 18 countries. The staff has  grown to more than 25 SCI Recovery Specialists.

2009:

Project Walk celebrates its ten year anniversary with and the expansion of its certification program. Individual certifications have been granted to professionals in more than 10 states and 5 countries.

2008:

The Project Walk Institute of SCI Recovery is formed. The Institute provides physical therapists and exercise professionals the opportunity to become certified in The Dardzinski Method. The birth of the Institute also brings about the first Project Walk research paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. New Certified Facilities are opened in Spain, Canada, Florida and Texas.

2007:

In attempt to reach more SCI victims, Project Walk started its Certified Facility program. Certified Facilities allow Project Walk to reach more clients and bring The Dardzinski Method to their hometowns. These facilities are not owned or operated by Project Walk but carry the distinction of providing the same high level of training and client success.

2006:

For the first time ever, the Project Walk Certification Program was made available to professionals outside of the organization. This was in response to client requests to increase the availability of The Dardzinski Method. Project Walk also partnered with University of California at Irvine to complete its first research study on the effects of exercise on SCI recovery. Project Walk had grown to support over 50 in-house clients and over 100 visiting clients on an annual basis.

2005:

After building a reputation for providing a high level of SCI training and client success, Project Walk began moving forward in becoming a non-profit organization. In November, the first  Steps to Recovery Event was held. This annual event has become a signature event for Project Walk and extremely successful in building awareness about spinal cord injuries and the benefits of exercise-based recovery. The first Steps to Recovery included fifteen clients, all given little hope of walking again, and all of them took steps.

2004:

The Dardzinski Method became more refined and the clients continued to show improvement. Project Walk grew quickly and in 2004 expanded into a 15,000 square foot center.

2003:

Knowing the challenges of training Spinal Cord Injury clients, in that people with the exact same injury may have different abilities and healing timeframes, a pattern of recovery was discovered. This observation led to the formalization of The Dardzinski Method®. In the beginning, this method was only practiced at Project Walk. In the years to come a formal certification program would be developed so other facilities and trainers could help those affected by a spinal cord injury.

2002:

The need for an exercise-based recovery program, designed for Spinal Cord Injury clients, was evident to the founders. New clients continued to visit and move to Southern California for this aggressive form of treatment. The company was moved into a 5,000 square foot center in Carlsbad, CA and started bringing on new employees to handle the growing number of clients.

2001:

The success that clients were experiencing at Project Walk began to spread through the Spinal Cord Injury community. Clients from all over the U.S. began seeking out the expertise  of Project Walk.

1999:

Ted and Tammy Dardzinski owned a small sports training center specializing in functional and postural training. A challenge was presented to them when a quadriplegic client was referred by a friend. The client had been discharged from his traditionalrehabilitation facility and was informed that he had completed his therapy. Dissatisfied with his prognosis of living in a wheelchair, the client wanted more and sought out an alternative form of treatment. With the help of Ted and Tammy the man began taking steps and continues to walk on a daily basis. Co-founder Eric Harness joined Ted and Tammy and together Project Walk was born.