For those in Texas and surrounding states, the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System is the closest federally approved Model Spinal Cord Injury System and was one of the first to exist in the country. First recognized in 1972, the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System, located in Houston, is at TIRR Memorial Hermann, one of the biggest healthcare providers and hospitals in Texas.
The Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System offers patients with spinal cord injuries both top management of their cares as well as the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge clinical trials. They have over 45 years of experience working with the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to help establish innovative ways to treat people with spinal cord injuries.
To learn more about the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System, a system that collaborates with both the University of Montana and the Baylor School of Medicine, continue reading below.
Research
A requirement for every Spinal Cord Injury Model System Center to access grant money is that they must follow certain guidelines. For example, each system must demonstrate improved care, help maintain a National Database of People with Spinal Cord Injuries and must participate and conduct long-term SCI research. Lastly, they must provide continuing education on spinal cord injuries.
Each year, the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System enrolls roughly 50 patients into their database and is the sixth-largest contributor to the National Spinal Cord Injury Database. They invite all patients with spinal cord injuries to take part in the national database and they follow up with each patient every five years.
Each Spinal Cord Injury Model System must also conduct a site project. The Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System is currently evaluating ZEST, a psychological wellness intervention for women with spinal cord injuries. Researchers are also doing research on pain, exoskeletons, and early predictors of rehabilitation outcomes.
The Spinal Cord Injury and Disability Research Center (SCIDR) at TIRR Memorial Hermann is another important part of the research done within the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System. The SCIDR was the first in the country to conduct follow-up interviews on research participants 45 years after the initial interview.
Within SCIDR, you'll also find their Neuromodulation Laboratory. Here they are researching noninvasive brain stimulation techniques to help improve spinal cord injury recovery. Learn more here https://memorialhermann.org/services/specialties/tirr/healthcare-professionals/research/neurorecovery-research-center
Care Provided
TIRR Memorial Hermann (TIRR standing for The Institute of Rehab and Rehabilitation), offers some of the best spinal cord injury rehabilitation in the country. For inpatient services, they have full interdisciplinary care, individual therapy if needed and weekend therapy, community outings, in-house urology consultations, spasticity management procedures such as Baclofen pumps, and fertility services for men with spinal cord injuries.
In addition, they offer OB-GYN services for women with spinal cord injuries, education classes for both patients and families about life with a spinal cord injury, and offer music therapy and individual and group therapy. A seating clinic can also be found on-site. All of these services are available as outpatient services as well. One of their more popular outpatient programs is Strength Unlimited, which is a community-based wellness program.
This program offers advanced and accessible exercise equipment, personal training, aquatic therapy, and specialized exercise programs. Also, if you are looking to try an exoskeleton, you can do so at their NeuroRecovery Research Center. They offer the opportunity to try lower extremity exoskeletons. Lokomat locomotion training is also available here.
To learn more about TIRR Hermann and the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System, you can read/download their Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Patient Manual here: https://memorialhermann.org/-/media/memorial-hermann/org/files/specialties/tirr/tirr-spinal-cord-injury-rehabilitation-manual.ashx?la=en
- Texas Model Spinal Cord In
