CLEVELAND — When the Summer Olympic Games wrap in Paris this August, the Paralympics will follow — a tradition dating back to 1960.
Thanks to science and technology, the way para-athletes compete is rapidly changing. Northeast Ohio is part of that.
In September, participants and attendees of the Head of Cuyahoga Regatta got a glimpse of what's to come in rowing. Soon, a rowing program for people with spinal cord impairments will take to the water, becoming another part of the Cleveland rowing community.
However, they'll do it in a way never done before.
"If you go out on a Sunday afternoon on the Cuyahoga and watch the Western Reserve Rowing Club out there, and then you come into our lab and see people on the erg, they will look as close to each other as possible," Dr. Ron Triolo says.
Triolo is a professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, and is also director of the Advanced Platform Technology Center at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. APT is on the cutting edge of prosthetics and exercise to improve the lives of our nation's veterans.
"Our ability to connect with the nervous system is really our strong suit," Triolo explained.
By using either implanted or surface stimulation, Triolo and his team are able to stimulate nerves causing muscle contraction.
Study volunteer Kevin O'Reilly is using both his arms and legs to row on the ergometer, or "erg." It's the machine used to simulate rowing, without an actual boat.
O'Reilly is a Geauga County farmer whose life changed more than four years ago, after a viral infection left him paralyzed from the waist down.
"I was diagnosed with a condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis, which is an inflammation of the spinal cord," he told us. "The swelling actually ended up damaging the nerves so that they don't function properly anymore."
O'Reilly is one of about 10 participants in the APT study. It is open to non-veterans, as well.
"I've been here now for a little over a year helping with different research projects," he of his participation in study. "What really prompted me to come, though, was the ability to get the exercise. That's incredibly valuable to me to continue my recovery."
Kimberly Ocampo is another participant. She is a dancer and singer with an infectious personality, but is also still adjusting to life after a 2015 bicycling accident.
"I like having goals," she admits. "It's what keeps me going."
Ocampo's passions have not changed. She still competes, teaches, and explores a vast array in which to express her artistic talents.
"When I come here, it's really a treat for me," she said. "It is hard work. When I'm here, I'm wiped out."
Rowing and cycling programs for people with paralysis are not new, but most focus on modifications to make the action possible. The mission of this APT study is activity-based neuro-rehabilitation.
"Stimulation-driven cycling and stimulation-driven rowing are not new to us," Triolo noted. "We didn't invent it, but I like to think we've perfected it."
Rowing is a full body workout, and for participants, the benefits are immense.
"It can help with all of the secondary complications of having a spinal cord injury," Lisa Lombardo, APT's Research Physical Therapist, explained. "You can reduce the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease. It can help improve your bone density, your overall health."
Triolo is often asked why he's made it his mission to get people with paralysis on the water. His answer is that the APT team is driven by creating opportunities that didn't exist before.
"That's really what my hope is: Is to provide options and opportunity for people to stay healthy, to live long, to enjoy life, and to be participants — active participants — in society," he added. "To get out there and move."
The goal is to get APT rowers onto the water later this year, with support from the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. The study is ongoing, and welcomes more volunteers, and again you do not have to be a veteran to participate.
For more information, email info@aptcenter.org.