Courage Center's Activity Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE) program, Minneapolis, has been named one of five community-based fitness and wellness facilities of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation's NeuroRecovery Network (NRN), Short Hills, NJ. This cooperative network of rehabilitation centers provide and develop therapies that promote functional recovery and improve the health and quality of life for people living with paralysis and spinal cord injury.

Funded by the Reeve Foundation through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the NRN translates the latest scientific advances into effective, activity-based rehabilitation treatments. Eight employees from Courage Center recently participated in a national summit in Louisville, Ky. The team spent 5 days of intensive, specialized training to learn how to appropriately deliver the NRN's therapies. They learned about intervention techniques on TheraStride equipment for locomotor training, functional electrical stimulation (FES) for upper/lower extremity, strengthening using FES bikes, and treatment and assessment protocols.

The NRN interventions, including locomotor training, come from years of basic research and expertise developed at hospital-based centers and from European-based rehabilitation best practices. Through this research there is scientific and clinical evidence that supports the effectiveness of intensive therapy to improve a person's health, independence, and quality of life, according to the center. Courage Center's ABLE is open to people with a spinal cord injury and other neurological conditions.

"It is our goal that, as a member of the Reeve Foundation NRN, Courage Center will improve overall health for people living with spinal cord injuries and improve access to services at the community level," said Susan Howley, executive VP for research, at the Reeve Foundation. "Courage Center gives individuals living with paralysis the opportunity to be 'fit for life,' working with clients to improve their cardiovascular fitness, muscle strengthening, and flexibility."

Courage Center, which is the first organization in the network to include an occupational therapist on their team, will begin accepting clients for the ABLE program in September.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation aims to cure spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information, and advocacy.

Courage Center, a nonprofit rehabilitation and resource center that advances the lives of children and adults experiencing barriers to health and independence, specializes in treating brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, chronic pain, autism, and disabilities experienced since birth.

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