Rehab Breakout Session 1

What is included in activity based therapy, exactly? Also, patients have lives, so what is the minimum amount you must do in order to improve?

John MacDonald: ABRT is anything that combines the goal of increasing neurological activity AND combines it with physiological work. It's all about response over time. It's the whole range, including aquatherapy. It comes down to time constraints . . . how can you can get the biggest bang over time? Keep focused on doable goals, put the patient in a position where they have something to work on for about 8 hours a week.

Dr Nieshoff: it depends on what the patient is willing and able to do.

Dr. Hinderer: dose is still a big question. We based our own estimates on how much it takes to make neurological changes in the brain, because there is not functional mri for the cord yet; it's much harder to do that.

Q: I always come here to w2w, and I always leave so motivated . . but at home reality always intrudes. Work, family, school, bleh. How can I keep motivated.

Dr. MacDonald says that there's a ton of evidence that says if an AB gets 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, they're going to be healthier.

Dr Hinderer: We're not very sophisticated at the moment, and there of course is not insurance coverage . . . a clinical trial might be a way to get cost-free

Woman: I just became aware of a series of articles in the Spinal Cord Injury magazine about a wide study made to help gather data.

Meh. I raise my hand to suggest that we at u2fp set up an exercise support group. We have each other's contact information and we could make it a priority to get this done before we meet next year.