The University of Michigan’s Model Spinal Cord Injury Care System is one of only 16 comprehensive programs in the United States funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Directed by Denise Tate, Ph.D., and David Gater, M.D., Ph.D., the program combines advanced clinical care, applied and clinical research, and education of spinal cord injury specialists. Established in 1985, it is the only program of its kind in the Midwest.

The 16 federally-funded spinal cord injury centers in the U.S. aim to improve the quality of life for more than 200,000 Americans living with spinal cord injuries and the 11,000 more who are injured every year.

“Improvements in medical care and rehabilitation are giving spinal cord injury patients a longer life expectancy and better quality of life,” says Gater, an associate professor in physical medicine and rehabilitation who has a dual appointment in the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. “Now we need to focus on the higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and other disorders that spinal cord injury patients face, because of lifestyle factors and the secondary physical effects of such an injury.”

The sudden, dramatic physical changes that come with a spinal cord injury can have psychological effects. “People living with these injuries have a higher incidence of depression and substance abuse than the general population,” says Tate, a psychologist working with spinal cord injury inpatients and outpatients at U-M. “Depression can interfere with the drive to exercise or adopt a healthy lifestyle.”

—KG

U-M Model Spinal Cord Injury Care System