Project Walk® 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™. We started this program 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 Project Walk, 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 we have developed a method that can aid the injured nervous system in regaining lost function.

Many of our clients 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.

The Old Approach to SCI

• No hope for recovery
• Interfere with sensation and muscle contractions with drugs
• Limited to no stimulation of the paralyzed areas
• Place the person in a continual reduced gravity environment (the wheelchair)

Results

• Loss of bone density and muscle mass, further reducing the chances of recovery in the future
• Decreased circulation
• Increased risk of infections and pressure sores
• No improvement of function

The Dardzinski Method (Exercise-Based Recovery)

• Hope of recovery. No one knows the future and nothing is guaranteed, but the unknown is better than never 
• Begin external stimulation for the nervous system to promote reorganization
• Remove clients from reduced gravity environment while working out
• Muscle contractions are increased and used to build muscle mass and control
• Load bearing exercises are performed from day one
• Worse case result is the client is healthy and more independent
• Best case result is the client begins to regain function and continues to improve

Results of Phase I (Reactivation) & Phase II (Development/Stabilization)

• Increased central nervous system activity
• Increased muscle mass
• Increased circulation
• Increased sensation in some clients
• Increased hot and cold in some clients
• Increased control of life
• Decreased pressure sores
• Decreased use of medications
• Decreased health problems associated with a spinal cord injury

• Hope

Simply stated, in Phase I and II, our goal is to act as your nervous system by manipulating the affected areas of the body thereby stimulating sensory input and exciting a motor response. We believe this is when clients begin to awaken dormant nervous pathways and develop new ones.

References