BOSTON —
Michael Feinberg has had three years to think about the moment on the ski slope that changed his life forever.
“It’s horrifying,” he said. “It’s just the worst possible injury imaginable.”
One minute, Feinberg was on his skis. The next, he was lying in the snow, unable to move.
“It’s like the devil leapt up and grabbed my feet and flipped me over,” he said.
Feinberg was then flown to the hospital by helicopter, where doctors confirmed what he already knew — his injury was very serious.
“Rather quickly, they determined I had severed, or partially severed, my spinal cord at the C3 level,” Feinberg said.
C3 refers to a vertebra in the neck.
“Originally, they had said to me that I would not have movement from my shoulders down, so I’ve been proving them wrong,” he said. “I can walk. I can do sit-ups. I can pedal a bike. I can do arm exercises.”
However, Feinberg is hopeful he can do a lot more, especially with his hands and fingers.
That’s one reason why he attends treatment sessions at the Inspire Lab, a rehab facility inside the Spaulding Research Institute.
“It’s meant to inspire people to regain autonomy and functional independence,” said Dr. Randy Trumbower, the lab’s director. “We’re looking for other types of therapies that can combine with traditional therapy to enhance the effects and perhaps provide more enduring recovery.”
Right now, his team is testing a device called ExaStim®.
Placed directly on Feinberg’s skin, it’s designed to boost the electrical signals traveling from his brain through the spinal cord to different muscles in his body.
“A lot of those signals become corrupt after injury,” Trumbower said. “And so, the idea is that by providing this stimulation at low intensity, it can help enhance those pathways — those signals that are dormant — and reconnect those lost pathways or weakened pathways after injury.”
Feinberg wants it to work.
“Hands and fingers aren’t as glamorous as legs and walking, but they’re probably more important in many ways,” he said. “Having the time to focus on that in a structured environment with movements that are technically correct, I believe, helped me gain some function back.”
Feinberg also knows that what researchers learn from him could help others.
“I’m still here,” he said. “I’m still me. I’m not quitting.”
Experts say each case is different, but many patients could benefit from enrolling in clinical trials.
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