Health Issue of The Week: Spinal Cord Injuries

 I've found it hard to come up with health tips every week that I can also explain and type up in an easy and timely manner.  Thus, instead of only presenting health tips each week, I've decided to branch out and try to post health tips, exercise tips, scientific reviews, and other "of the week" entries.  Thus, my first "Health Issue of the Week" blog, dealing with the subject of spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

This past weekend, as part of my new job working as an exercise therapist at Push To Walk, I went to the Working 2 Walk conference in Rockville, MD. It was put on by the organization Unite 2 Fight Paralysis. The conference included lectures and discussions with many top doctors and researchers in the spinal cord injury field, representatives from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and DOD (Department of Defense), as well as talks and discussions from/with many advocates from the spinal cord community, including many international advocates. If you’re wondering, the DOD was there to talk about the grants they give out to fund research, and how the DOD follows up on their grants to make sure research is actually being done.


The experience was awesome, and very eye-opening for me. I asked some questions to some of the speakers, but for the most part sat back and listened. I wanted to get a better sense of what life was like in a chair and what the spinal cord injury (SCI) community’s views towards living in a chair were. I wanted to hear the discussions between the SCI advocates and the FDA. I wanted to hear the debate among the doctors and scientists as to what the best and safest methods currently are for treating SCIs, and what things need more research in the future.

My eyes were also opened to the lack of cohesion, communication, and networking within the SCI community. However, almost all the advocates and researchers at the conference seemed to agree that events like this one were a good place to start, and discussions needed to continue. There was one overwhelming theme that everybody at the conference seemed to agree upon though – paralysis can be and needs to be CURED.

Some things I learned:

• The SCI population is a relatively new one. It wasn’t until WWII, with the invention of the right types of plastics, that people were able to live with paralysis. Up until that point, if somebody sustained a SCI, they would die within a few weeks due to a urinary tract infection. That is not so anymore. Thus it has really only been in the last 60-70 years that there has been a need for treatments and research into curing a SCI.
• It is estimated there are 12,000 new SCIs every year in the USA alone.
• The average yearly expenses for SCI patients, depending on severity of injury, range from $321,720-$985,774 in their first year, and anywhere from $39,077-$171,183 every subsequent year.
• Until recently, old fashioned ideas from the medical community have been hurting the SCI community. The idea used to be that a SCI patient’s best chance of gaining any kind of function back was in the first six months, with no chance of recovering any function beyond 2 years post-injury. Modern science and research has shown us this is NOT the case. It is possible for any paralyzed individual, no matter how severe or what level their injury, to regain at least SOME function and/or improve their health no matter when they start exercising. Every single researcher or doctor that presented at the conference, whether they were talking about exercise therapy, biomaterial implants, stem cell research, or a myriad of other topics, had the same belief; PARALYSIS CAN BE CURED.

The last thing that really made an impact on me, and that is still running through my mind, is something one of the advocates said. Martin Codyre, director of the Irish Stem Cell Foundation, was talking with a representative from the FDA about the medical community’s old views towards living with paralysis. He explained how the medical community used to have the attitude of repairing a patient as best they could after an accident, and that was it. It was time to get used to life in a chair, because that is as good as it was going to get for them. Despite modern science and research that seems to suggest otherwise, that old idea is still pervasive in both the medical and SCI community. I may not be remembering Martin’s exact words correctly, but after talking about that old idea in the medical community and why he was at the conference, he said “I’m here to get out of this chair.”

A woman with an SCI riding a FES Bike, which uses electrodes to directly stimulate the muscles of the legs, allowing her to maintain muscle mass and keep the nerves below her injury level alive.  With machines like this, she has hope of recovering some function in her legs.  What else can be done for SCI patients?  The more questions we ask and attempt to answer, the sooner we'll find out.



Health Tip of the Week: Have More Energy While Losing Weight!

This blog was prompted by (and is based off questions from) my girlfriend who is trying to lose weight.  I thought, rather than share the info with just her, why not share it with everybody?

So how do I do it? Simple: eat smaller meals more frequently throughout the day.

How does that give me more energy? When we eat a big breakfast, then wait a few (4+) hours, we experience a huge spike in blood sugar followed by a huge drop in blood sugar levels. The result: a big spike in energy followed by a big drop in energy. The same thing happens a few hours later when we eat a big lunch. Ever have that afternoon lull in energy that the “energy shot” drink commercials always talk about? That is one of the reasons for this. Needless to say, it will happen again if you wait another couple of hours after lunch to eat a big dinner before going to bed. So instead of having these huge spikes and deficits of blood sugar that affect our energy levels throughout the day, wouldn’t it be nice to keep our blood sugar/energy levels more even so we can get through the day without wanting to take a nap at 2 p.m.? Eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day is how we accomplish this.

How does this apply to weight loss? When we take those long breaks from eating, our metabolisms actually slow down. This means that rather than burn up all the calories we’ve eaten, utilizing most of the nutrients right away, your metabolism will instead store as much of it as it can; mostly, in adipose tissue, where fat is stored. This is because the number one source of energy for the body in a resting state is fat. That is why we all need some fat in our body. However, I don’t need to tell anyone the myriad of health problems that can come from having too much fat, so back to the point of weight loss. If we eat a smaller meal, then another one 2-3 hours later, then another one 2-3 hours later, etc, our body will be getting a constant flow of nutrients. Because of this, our metabolisms will speed up, and constantly be burning calories throughout the day. Consequently, since our body’s number one fuel source at rest is fat, our metabolisms will be burning that fat up all day, helping in the processes of either weight loss OR maintaining a healthy weight.

Well, all that science is just super-duper, but how do I actually go about eating smaller meals more frequently? Rather than bore/confuse you with caloric expenditure numbers, I’ll give you some simple tips on how to do it. It won’t be as exact as actually calculating the number of calories you actually need and dividing it up throughout the day, but it will be much simpler.
• Plan your meals and snacks. What times of the day can you eat full meals? What times of the day do you have to eat a snack? If you know exactly when you can or want to eat, it will be easier to fit a meal or snack in at that time. Try to eat either a small meal or a snack every 2-3 hours. You can go for longer if you need to fit in an exercise session, but be sure to have a small meal or snack right after! (FYI: 1% or skim chocolate milk is a great post workout drink!)
• Divide, separate, and conquer. Think about how big your meals usually are. Now, cut those in half, and eat some of the food later than you normally would. Do you usually eat a bagel for breakfast? Eat half of it at your normal breakfast time, and the other half two hours later. Do you usually have a salad for lunch? Eat half of it at normal lunch time and half three hours later. Or, buy a smaller salad for lunch, and have a healthy snack (like a banana, nuts, peanut butter and crackers, granola bar) two or three hours later. Even if dinner is always a full family meal, that’s still 5 meals through the day now instead of three, and a more evenly distributed food intake.
• Get creative. Think outside the box for small meals and/or snacks. One example is peanut butter between two Nutri-grain bars. Right there you have healthy fat, protein, and good carbs all in an easy to make and quick to eat snack. A blender is also a great tool. You can make a drink, keep it in a bottle or thermos, and take a few gulps halfway in between meals. One of my favorites is skim milk, strawberries, peanut butter, and a scoop of protein powder all mixed together in a blender. The possibilities are endless.

It will take some trial and error to figure out exactly how big each meal or snack should be. It can also take a few days to a few weeks for your metabolism to get used to the smaller meals and/or the higher frequency of food intake. Nevertheless, once your body is used to it, you will notice a change in your energy levels throughout the day, and your metabolism will be revving all the time so that you can minimize the amount of excess fat your adipose tissue stores, and attain or maintain that healthy weight.

"The fat just walks away!"