ANOTHER MIRACLE IN MY RECOVERY!

God continues to bless me throughout my recovery! As I mentioned in my previous post an amazing therapist at University of Central Arkansas has allowed me to come and be apart of her class as a teaching aide. She was explaining to her class my injury level and what that entails. I am what is considered a lower motor neuron lesion injury. Basically what that means is my spinal cord was damaged below the central cord. The spinal roots that come off of the central cord come down into the lower parts of your spine. I broke my back where the roots branch out below the central cord. What that means is I would have flaccid paralysis. My legs would not have spasms AND they would not be able to contract with electrical stimulation.

(EXCUSE MY TECHNICAL/MEDICAL JARGON)in order for a muscle to contract with electrical stimulation it must produce what is called a REFLEX ARCH in the CENTRAL CORD which runs from your brain to about the T-10 vertebrae. Below the T-10 vertebrae level you have the spinal roots or peripheral nerves. Once an electrical signal has been given to muscles it will send the signal up to the central cord to the injury point, create a reflex arch, send a signal back down to contract the muscle. However, I broke my back BELOW the T-10 level which means signals can NOT go to my central cord in order to create the reflex arch. This is why I do not have spasms in my legs and electrical stimulation will not contract the muscle. It is MEDICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!

This is why I have been excluded from almost every clinical trial. Most every clinical trial uses electrical stimulation to contract the muscles and recruit them to help in walking. Since my legs do not respond to electrical stimulation I have been excluded from every trial.

I have been using E-stim almost everyday before I go to bed. My good friend Dave Reed has let me borrow his e-stim unit which has kept my muscles healthy and strong. The unit has kept the muscle fibers active and the circulation of blood throughout my muscles. The therapists believed that my e-stim usage has kept the motor neurons in my muscles active and vibrant although the muscle would never be able to contract.

My therapist asked me if I had ever tried a DC current (Direct Current)? MOST ALL e-stim units on the market are made with AC current (Alternating Current). But a DC current sends a constant electrical stimulus to the muscle. However, you can not keep DC current on a muscle for too long because it can burn the skin which is why most units are AC. Well my therapist had a DC unit and tried it on me, AND IT WORKED!!!! MY MUSCLES CAN NOW CONTRACT which will keep my muscles strong and can be used to recruit muscles to help in my recovery.

I asked Dr. Kiser here in Little Rock what this means? I was told that I could not contract my muscles, and he HAD NO IDEA how I was doing it!! He said that I must have had a regeneration of axons in my cord which has allowed for the connection. IM SO EXCITED this is a HUGE mile stone in my recovery! GOD IS SO GOOD TO ME! AND I KNOW I WILL WALK AGAIN!!! I have never doubted it, I am doing the impossible all because of the grace of GOD!! NEVER STOP PRAYING, NEVER STOP BELIEVING!!

SO MUCH IN HIM!!
BRENT