New drug shows promise with spinal cord injures

Spinal damage is often severe and the impact of it may last for a lifetime, but a revolutionary new drug may be able to help. In the past, medications have not been able to help damaged spines heal, but researchers are now saying that this new drug does exactly that.

One of the problems with a spinal injury is that there can be such extensive nerve damage that the cells are no longer connected, and impulses cannot travel as they should. This is why a person may lose control of his or her legs, for example, after a car accident. To fight this ailment, the drug allows the impulses traveling along the nerves to essentially jump over the breaks. This way, they can travel to their final destination as if there was no damage.

So far, the drug has been tested on rats who could not control their bladders or move their legs, and it showed promise in allowing the injured rats to do both things.

No surgery is needed for a person to use this new drug. Instead, it is put into the site through an injection process. This means that it is far less invasive than some other techniques. It is being called an unprecedented breakthrough in this field.

Are you suffering from a permanent disability in Florida because of a spinal cord injury? If so, make sure that you know what legal rights you may have to financial compensation, especially if you need that compensation to pay for some of the newest treatments that may be able to help your condition.

Source: NBC News, “‘Unprecedented’: Drug May Help Heal Damaged Spine” Maggie Fox, Dec. 03, 2014