(PRWEB) October 23, 2013 Phillip Koss, owner of http://www.strechforlife.com/ is quick to point out that this process is no panacea. A severely disabled individual will need weeks of daily treatments, as much as two hours twice daily. Commitment and dedication is required of both the patient and practitioner. Each session is individually tailored to meet the specific needs of the person at each stage in the process. Since 2009, Stretch for Life has been enabling persons with stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) to regain feeling and function. The process involves full body stretching, massage, acupressure, strength training coupled with mental focus, breathing and visualization to eliminate spasticity and restore feeling and muscle function. Once the habitually tight muscles have been coaxed into relaxing, the relaxation is permanent. Persons who have been in chronic pain report the pain is alleviated.The process begins as a series of treatments to relax the tight muscles and continues as a relearning to use the atrophied muscles. Lastly, the procedure involves exercises to restore strength and coordination. "By pretreating a client with perispinally administered etanercept (Enbrel), we vastly speed up the entire process and obtain results that would not be possible without the Enbrel," stated … Continue reading →

October 22, 2013 12:08 PM Share with others: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette University of Pittsburgh researchers are among those from 20 institutions in the U.S. who will participate in a $18.8 million NIH study on traumatic brain injury. It will be part of one of the largest international research collaborations ever coordinated by funding agencies. David Okonkwo, associate professor of neurological surgery and clinical director of the Brain Trauma Research Center at Pitt, will lead the local part of the study. The five-year study will be administered through University of California San Francisco. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2 percent of the U.S. population lives with disabilities caused by traumatic brain injuries or TBI, with an annual cost of care at $77 billion. Roughly 1.7 million people seek medical attention for TBI each year. In the new study, scientists aim to refine and improve diagnosis and treatment of TBI whether from car accidents, football injuries, battle wounds or other causes. Such brain injuries often go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed and can be under treated because symptoms can be misunderstood and insidious. Geoffrey Manley, a UCSF neurosurgeon who will serve as the U.S. research teams primary liaison to the … Continue reading →

The National Institutes of Health is awarding $18.8 million over five years to support worldwide research on concussion and traumatic brain injury. The NIH award, part of one of the largest international research collaborations ever coordinated by funding agencies, will be administered through UC San Francisco. The award supports a team of U.S. researchers at more than 20 institutions throughout the country who are participating in the International Traumatic Brain Injury (InTBIR) Initiative, a collaborative effort of the European Commission, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Although the potential long-term harms due to concussions and blows to the head have gained more attention recently due in part to media coverage of the experiences of athletes and of soldiers returning from the Middle East traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, that results from automobile crashes or other common accidents impacts many more people. Many of those who are affected by TBI are never diagnosed, according to UCSF neurosurgeon Geoffrey Manley, MD, PhD, a principal investigator for the grant who will serve as the U.S. research teams primary liaison to the NIH,and thechief of neurosurgery at the UCSF-affiliated San … Continue reading →