Underwater treadmill gives victims of spinal-cord injuries new hope

In a new research, using an underwater treadmill has given a new ray of hope to those people who had suffered severe spinal-cord trauma.Physical therapist Sandra Stevens turned to the machine inside a fiberglass tank that holds 270 gallons of water for her doctoral research at Middle Tennessee State University.Stevens said: "After watching the kids with cerebral palsy, I thought there were a lot of other populations that could benefit from this kind of therapy."She continued: "I looked at leg strength, balance, daily walking behavior, walking speed and endurance. Some of these folks could only walk for a minute then they would have to sit. When they started walking in the tank, the minimum time I set was five minutes of walking. They all were able to do that."Stevens added: "They experience a real psychological boost. At first they feel like they're in the way. After trying initially [to walk], they say, 'What's the point-I won't be able to walk anyway.'"But she noted: "So they've gone from four or five minutes of walking to 32 or 34 minutes. That's a big improvement."Dr. Don Morgan, MTSU health and human performance professor, said: "It's relatively new technology. It's been used by athletic teams and for older folks with arthritis."