Crouched down in the bluebells

Progress

Standing proud

 

When I embarked upon ABR Therapy, four and a half years after my accident, I was in a terribly depleted condition, with catastrophic collapse of structures throughout my entire body, and nothing but skin and bone from the waist down. For the last fifteen years I have put in a thousand hours of therapy work a year and have improved my condition beyond what I could ever have imagined all those years ago.

 

The following video describes the progress I have made and shows the abilities I have regained.

 

 

The defining characteristic of paraplegia is the 'missing back', leaving a body with no depth to it. Someone once described me as being 'as flat as a playing card'! There is still work to do to get the layers of my back to build up and recreate the full depth, but my back steadily improves as does my whole condition.

Paralysis from the waist down to my knees has been largely overcome, but two big questions remain :-

The quality of my ankles and feet has been steadily increasing, as has the muscle bulk of my lower legs, but the question is, 'Will this translate into overcoming the paralysis below the knee and spring my feet and ankles back into life?' I believe it will, but only time will tell.

The other big question is not, 'Is recovery possible?', but, 'Can I put in enough hours of therapy to make a full recovery a reality?'

I cannot yet walk, nor can I stand without a good hand hold, but I can bear my weight and I can move around with ease. More importantly I live comfortably in a body with real quality to it. I live without risk of pressure sores and without fear of declining kidney function. What is more, my condition continues to improve week upon week.

I intend to show the world that full recovery from spinal injury is possible. 

 

The Culture of Spinal Injury

Probably the greatest barrier to healing spinal injury is the culture that insists recovery is impossible; or at least until scientists discover how to repair the spinal cord! If scientists could perform a spinal cord transplant they still wouldn't cure paraplegia as they fail to see that the essence of the condition lies in the bio-mechanical structure of the body. Only by improving the structure of the body can paraplegia be overcome and this is what ABR Therapy does.

  • My aim is to transform the culture to one that is centred on a bio-mechanical approach to recovery from spinal injury.
  • One where therapy begins during bed rest, to prevent decline.
  • A culture that embraces a rehabilitation process that builds the body rather than ingrains the changes,
  • and one that promotes continued improvements through a long term and community based therapy program.