The Tutor System Augments Pain Medication For SCI Patients

Relief from chronic pain is a major priority for the 1,000,000 US residents that suffer from spinal cord injury (SCI). Ching-Yi Lin, PhD, Department of Neurosciences in Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, is the lead and corresponding author of a new study published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, showing that a single injection of fibronectin, a naturally occurring protein, leads to an inhibition of chronic SCI pain for over eight months in an experimental model. This is a collaborative project between Dr. Lin and Yu-Shang Lee, PhD, Department of Neurosciences; Vernon Lin, MD, PhD, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Cleveland Clinic; and Jerry Silver, PhD, Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University.
Fibronectin is known to support the survival and growth of neurons in the brain and spinal cord. These researchers discovered, through the use of fibronectin fragments and competitive inhibitors, that the pain-curbing results depended upon a short, 8-amino acid segment of fibronectin, which activated specific cellular signaling pathways.
It is known that spinal cord injury increases the permeability of the blood-spinal cord barrier, causing secondary pathogenesis and chronic pain due to exposure of the spinal cord to inflammatory cells. Results show that fibronectin not only maintained the integrity of the blood-spinal cord barrier, but also suppressed the inflammatory response. Researchers found that fibronectin reversed spinal cord injury-induced decreases in serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in pain perception.
The dose and timing of Fibronectin can augment the functional gain of physiotherapy.The TUTORS have been in the forefront of rehabilitation therapy for spinal cord injury.
The newly developed HANDTUTOR and its sister devices (ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR, 3DTUTOR) have become a key system in neuromuscular rehabilitation for stroke victims and those recovering from brain and spinal injuries, Parkinson’s, MS, CP and other limb movement limitations.
These innovative devices implement an impairment based program with augmented motion feedback that encourages motor learning through intensive active exercises and movement practice. The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR consist of wearable glove and braces that detect limb movement showing the patient how much active or assisted active movement they are actually doing.
The rehabilitation software uses special rehabilitation games to set a new target for this movement in terms of the patients ability to move their limb. The devices then measure the limb movement and give feedback on the success of the patient’s objective. In this way the patient can understand which effort is more successful in allowing them to move their affected limb again. The TUTOR system provides exercises that are challenging and motivating and allow for repetitive and intensive exercise practice.
The HANDTUTOR, LEGTUTOR, ARMTUTOR and 3DTUTOR are now part of the rehabilitation program of leading U.S. German, Italian, French, UK and other foreign hospitals. See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.