NRN@Courage Center

Courage Center is a Minnesota-based non-profit rehabilitation and resource center that empowers people with disabilities to realize their full potential in every aspect of life. To enhance its services to clients with spinal cord injury, paralysis and other neurological conditions, Courage Center joined the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network in 2010 as a Community-Based Fitness and Wellness Facility.

The Activity-Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE) program offered at Courage Center is based on the best scientific and clinical evidence available. Courage Center takes a holistic mind-body approach to rehabilitation and life-long wellness. The ABLE team designs personalized programs for clients using revolutionary locomotor training, functional electrical stimulation and other fitness activities that challenge muscles below the level of injury. ABLE promotes improvements in health, fitness, strength and quality of life.

Watch a video about the Courage Center ABLE program.

Learn more about Courage Center

Brendan
Age: 22
Date of Injury: July 11, 2009
Type of Injury: Two broken vertebrae: C4 and C5
Mechanism of Injury: Diving accident

Initial Status: The accident left Brendan paralyzed from the chest down, with little control of his arms. He was in Intensive Care for three weeks, then in acute rehab in Colorado for three and a half months. He started receiving physical and occupational therapies at home, but soon sought out Courage Center to continue his rehabilitation.

Goals: Regain strength, improve coordination and learn to walk again. Brendan also wants to finish his degree in business management, start a business and perhaps get married.

Treatment: Brendan joined Courage Center's Activity-Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE) program and receives physical and occupational therapy at Courage Center in addition to locomotor training. He is in the harness on the Therastride about 50 minutes each session. He also works out on the FES Bike and does guided exercises on floor mats to strengthen his core muscles.

Outcomes: Strengthened muscles, improved coordination resulting in more independence and progress toward his goal of walking. Brendan's quads are firing during locomotor training, indicating the nerves are alive and willing to work if they can be retrained. He has seen huge improvement in the muscles of his lower back; he's now using them to shift his weight from side to side in a normal walking stride. Even his knees are demonstrating they can hold his weight without over extending. All this indicates that he has not yet peaked.

Chris
Age: 15
Date of Injury: Aug. 27, 2010
Type of Injury: C6 Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury
Mechanism of Injury: ATV accident

Initial Status: The accident left Chris paralyzed from the waist down. Initially he had no motor control of his legs.

Goals: Regain strength, improve coordination and learn to walk again. Chris is going to school full time in addition to being at Courage Center several hours a day. He is learning to drive with hand controls.

Treatment: Chris joined Courage Center's Activity-Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE) program on Feb. 7, 2011, after earning a scholarship for the full program. He has received physical and occupational therapy at Courage Center in addition to the ABLE Program. He participates in the ABLE program four days a week. He is on the Therastride for an hour, exercises on the FES Bike and does guided exercises on floor mats to strengthen his core muscles.

Outcomes: Strengthened muscles, improved lower extremity function, decreased spasticity, improved balance, increased sensation. Chris has recently begun crawling independently and is gaining new movements in his legs each week.

Erin
Age: 13
Date of Injury: August 2009
Type of Injury: SCI C6-C7 fusion
Mechanism of Injury: Diving Accident

Initial Status: After the initial accident Erin went to the intensive care unit at North Memorial for one week then headed to Gillette Children’s, St. Paul, for inpatient treatment for three months. After being discharged Erin began outpatient physical and occupational therapy at Gillette, Maple Grove. During the summer of 2010 Erin came to Courage Center for more opportunities to meet people with her type of disability and injury. In January 2011 Erin began participating in the ABLE program four times per week for three hours per day.

Goals: Regain strength and coordination and learn to walk again. Erin has additional goals of graduating from high school, attending college to study graphic design, and someday working for Pixar animation studios. Erin also wants to learn to drive when she turns 16.

Outcomes: Since beginning ABLE Erin has more sensation in her lower body and can feel pressure. Before ABLE her dog, Mia, would lay on her lap and she wouldn’t be able to feel that, but now she feels the pressure and knows where she is laying. Erin also can write more so she can do more of her homework on her own. And she has the strength to push her manual chair harder and go farther.