Hope for Reversing Effects of Spinal Cord Injuries Using Stem Cell-Physical Therapy Combination

The results of a new clinical trial indicate to Houston personal injury lawyers that a combination of stem cell therapy and physical therapy can help reverse the effects of spinal cord injury.

The results of the study have been reported in Cell Transplantation journal. The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The clinical trial consisted of 70 patients who had suffered a serious cervical or thoracic spinal cord injury. These persons had previously been treated for at least 6 months, but had shown no response to the treatment. The patients were divided into 2 groups, and both the groups were given physical therapy treatment. One of the groups also received stem cell therapy in addition to the physical therapy treatment. The stem cells were derived from the patient’s own bone marrow.

Over the next 18 months, patients in both groups were continuously evaluated and monitored to see how they rated on the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale.

The researchers found that none of the patients in the control group, who had received only the physical therapy and no stem cell therapy, showed any improvement or change in their sensory or motor function.

Patients who were treated with stem cells showed no particular side effects, from the use of the therapy. Besides, all the patients who had received the stem cell therapy as well as the physical therapy responded to sensory and tactile stimuli about 4 weeks into the study.

After about 12 weeks, these patients reported many other improvements, including an enhancement in sensation, better muscle strength and improved bladder and bowel function.