Could untethering surgery arrest and restore loss of function years after an SCI?

The thought of losing more function years after a spinal cord injury is a devastating thought for many. Following spinal cord injury, most of us who are paralyzed think in terms of what has been lost below the level of injury. But what is more worrisome is the possibility that damage can also go the other way, ascending to higher levels in the cord, resulting in possible additional motor and sensory loss, increased spasticity, pain and more. Worse yet, it can happen years after the initial injury.

Since we are entering a time of greater understanding of how the spinal cord can regenerate and damage can be reversed, syringomyelia (a disorder in which a cyst or cavity forms within the spinal cord) may soon be a problem of the past. And there is even more reason for hope. Recent research has shown that untethering — when no syrinx has formed — may actually help restore some functions that were lost at the time of injury.

Read more in THIS GREAT ARTICLE from New Mobility magazine.