Restoring function to the injured human spinal cord

Abstract

Of catastrophic traumas to the human body, spinal cord injury (SCI) has least benefited innovations arising from the new biology. Since after WW II, the "standard of care" for SCI has changed little. The controversial use of high dosages of steroids has provided only modest benefit to patients--but not without the enhanced risk of mortality. Novel therapies arising from biochemistry and genetics have not materialized in over 15 years, and are unlikely to in the author's opinion. Instead, appreciation of biophysics and cell physiology in controlling nerve injury, growth, regeneration, and function has produced innovative clinical approaches now in testing in human spinal cord injury.