cord-related stories
Ask Fitz! Your Fitness Questions Answered -- Ab Training with Paraplegia & Joining Weight Watchers
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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.
Q. Hi Fitz, I am a person with T-12 incomplete Paraplegia. I'm interested in learning about some decent ab workouts (including obliques) that I could do at the gym or at home. Just to provide you with a little more information, my T-12 vertebrae are connected by rods. I'd really appreciate some guidance. Thanks! Jon
A. Hello Jon, What a wonderful question! I really feel there's a gaping hole in the fitness industry which needs to address fitness training for people dealing with injuries and/or disabilities. You are the perfect example of that. A guy who's had a spinal injury, but still strives for better fitness beyond rehab facilities. I love it. I also love the spinal cord, and appreciate the sensitivity of it. Long ago, while I was earning my Master's Degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences at the University of Florida, I took a magnificent course on the spine from a brilliant woman, Dr. Christine Stopka, Professor of Adapted Physical Activity & Medical Terminology. She taught me to respect the spine first, and then went on from there. A major aspect of the course focused on educating her students about the things people with disabilities could do. She spent far more time on the could dos than the can't dos. That's one of the most important things I took away with me. I thought your question deserved the most expert advice, so I passed it on to her.
Area races will save lives
The Five Points of Life races, sponsored by LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, are designed to raise awareness about the need for five life-saving donations -- blood, apheresis, bone marrow, organs and tissue, and cord blood. Some event participants and volunteers are donors, some are recipients, and some are both. Donors are asked to wear an orange ribbon on race day. Recipients: a blue one (we're Gators here, hence the orange and blue). The ribbons will serve as reminders of the importance of saving lives.
Should I run next year, I'll be wearing a blue ribbon, in honor of the several units of blood I received while hospitalized three years ago with chemotherapy-induced low blood counts. What a thrill it would be to publicly acknowledge the gift I was given. What a thrill it would be to run all those miles.
Scientists help paralyzed mice walk again. Humans next?
Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment
Here's some great news for the future of paralysis treatment. As we all know, spinal cord injuries are a serious matter that can adversely affect a person's life. Whether due to car accidents or otherwise, these types of trauma can leave a person unable to walk.Well scientists have figured out how paralyzed mice can regain some of their ability walk again, even if it's not a hundred percent fixed. After giving them injuries in the lab, they observed movement again after ten weeks. This was due to the fact that short nerve connections found a way to detour the injury!
In the past, they believed the only way to heal this condition would be to regrow long nerves from the brain to the spinal cord. However this research tells a different story. If these spontaneous shorter connections can be replicated with such success in humans, scientists may be able to cure paralysis. Let's hope they figure out how!






















