Natalie Trask, Spinal Cord Injury Research at the Frazier Rehab Facility in Louisville Kentucky, Week One

Hello everyone! My name is Natalie Trask and this is week one of my internship at the Frazier Rehab Facility in Louisville Kentucky. Here, I am expanding my knowledge on spinal cord injuries, specifically in the pediatrics department. In this past week, I have come to learn that the Frazier Rehab Facility is quite a unique place for multiple reasons. One special difference though, is the way that therapy is performed. Frazier focuses on recovery rather than compensation. To put this in more simpler terms, say a child has a spinal cord injury. Instead of teaching the kid how to live with their injury or how to compensate for movements and functions they don’t posses due to the injury, Frazier uses different methods of therapy (Activity Based Restorative Therapy) to turn on or activate the spinal cord. This helps to enhance and gain some function of the body that was below the area of injury. This method allows for an improved quality of life, one that could potentially not even involve a wheel chair or methods for compensation.

This week I spent half of my time in the research department reading case studies about spinal cord injuries, and a grading scale (SATCo) which assess the improvement a child makes while going through Activity Based Restorative Therapy (ABRT). The rest of my time was spent observing physical and occupational therapy sessions of a specific patient who has a spinal cord injury and has been attending therapy at Frazier for a very long time. Each physical therapy session, the patient spent about an hour on a special treadmill. This treadmill has a harness which can hold the body weight of the patient, two physical therapy technicians on both sides, moving the patients legs and touching specific points on the legs to stimulate the muscles, and the physical therapist behind the patient to control sway/movement of the hips and pelvis. This week I learned how to successfully operate the computer program that is used to run this treadmill.

In occupational therapy, the patient used a stander to hold a standing position while playing board games and things like Pictionary to work on their fine motor skills. The patient also practiced throwing around a ball, while trying to hold a straight/correct posture. I participated in playing these games and had a blast! The most difficult part of the standing process was trying to figure out what position was most comfortable and effective for the patient. Their feet needed to be held in place with foot pads/brackets and their knees needed to stay a good distance apart. A strap would go in front of the knees to keep the patient from leaning to far forward. Two straps would go behind the patient: one on the lower back and one in the glute area to keep the patient from falling backward. Two physical therapy techs would sit in the chairs in the front of the stander to press the knees back and keep them in an extended position. Now this stander could be considered a method of compensation, a tool to make things easier for the patient, something they can rely on. But by playing games and adding in movements, being in this stance/position of standing allows for the body parts beneath the injury to be activated.

Those were the main highlights of my week. I also had to go through a HIPPA course to be allowed into the therapy sessions with the patient. All of the research and observation time I am completing, will eventually bring me to a position to start writing a case study about the patient, which I am super exited for!

In my free time over the weekend, I went boating down the Ohio river with some neighbor friends, went exploring downtown, and spent a good chunk of time at Lakeside, which is the pool in the neighborhood I am staying at.

Overall it was a good week, and I am excited to see what other fun things this internship experience has in store for me!