Christopher Reeve urges proactive care for people with spinal cord injury
28 January 2003
Speaking at the New South Wales Premier’s Forum on Spinal Cord Injury and Conditions yesterday, keynote speaker actor Christopher Reeve emphasised the need for a paradigm shift towards proactive care of those with spinal cord injury (SCI), and the need for research to be practical and applied.
The 2-day spinal injury forum, held in Sydney over the Australia Day weekend, was attended by over 800 people including researchers, doctors and people with SCI, their families and carers.
Christopher Reeve, an actor known for his starring role in the movie Superman, was seriously injured in 1995 when his spinal cord was severed at the base of his skull as the result of a horse riding accident.
Reeve urged that everyone with SCI be given the opportunity for physical therapy. He said exercise has given him the greatest encouragement, finding he can make new movements that 'just weren’t meant to happen.'
Among the basic requirements of proactive care, Reeve cited the examples of electrical stimulation and the use of a bicycle to encourage healthy cardiovascular conditioning, circulation, skin integrity and bone density, aspects that he considers crucial when living with paralysis.
'Science and physical therapy need to come together — meet halfway — to solve this equation,' he said.
In 1995, the year of his injury, Reeve discovered that 'neuroscience research was considered a dead-end career'.
In the light of new understanding of how the spinal cord responds to injury, Reeve now urged researchers and carers to: 'Throw out all the conventional wisdom about the spinal cord and its ability to regenerate, respond and remyelinate.'
He also encouraged researchers to have regular contact with spinal injury patients, and not be confined to the laboratory.
In reiterating the theme of the forum — making connections — Reeve spoke of the importance of the care relationships that need to develop between someone with SCI and their primary carers — doctors, nurses and often family members who become carers.
Reeve encouraged 'Support systems for caregivers, particularly family members, so that families can enjoy as normal a life as possible, and not be torn apart by paralysis.'
There are over 10,000 Australians already living with a spinal cord injury, and over 400 additional spinal cord injuries are sustained in Australia each year.
According to scientific experts speaking at the forum, stem cell research holds significant promise for people living with spinal cord injury. In December 2002, The Senate of the Australian Federal Parliament approved a bill allowing the use of stem cells from the 70,000 surplus IVF embryos currently held in Australian infertility clinics.
Christopher Reeve campaigns to promote the use of therapeutic cloning in humans as a means of obtaining stem cells. However, last year, the Federal Government imposed a 3-year ban on human therapeutic cloning in Australia.
Last Reviewed: 29 January 2003
