The Ohio State University Medical Center celebrates the opening of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network (NRN) Center. The mission of the center is to deliver leading-edge, evidence-based rehabilitation therapies to promote function and improve the health and quality of life of people living with paralysis.
The center offers therapy called locomotor training whereby a patient is suspended in a harness over a treadmill while trained therapists move their legs to simulate walking. By training on and off the treadmill, the patient progresses toward conventional walking.
Locomotor training can improve cardiovascular and pulmonary function, promote 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 can also lead to demonstrable improvements in the emotional and psychological well being of patients and facilitate their integration into the community.
The NRN Center at OSU Medical Center’s Dodd Hall is one of the first translational centers for neurorehabilitation in the country and was made possible by the generous support and funding of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For more information about the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, please visit the CDRF Web site