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Introduction: Muscle imbalance of the upper quadrant of the body is one of the problems in paraplegia spinal cord injury (SCI) patients using wheelchair. This increases the risk of developing deformities and exposes the person to upper cross syndrome (UCS). The use of NASM-based corrective exercises is one of the new ways of restoring muscle balance for preventing and correcting deformities. The aim of this study was investigating the effect of NASM-based training protocol on UCS in paraplegia SCI patients.
 
Materials & Methods: 22 male paraplegic spinal cord injury patients with forward head, round shoulder, and kyphosis deformities were selected and divided into two groups of training(n:12, age:38.68±9.81) and control(n:10, age:40.40±7.33). Training group performed NASM-based exercises for 12 weeks. Goniometer, double square, and flexible ruler were used to measure forward head, round shoulder, and kyphosis, respectively. The statistical analysis of variance for repeated data at the significance level of (P <0.05) was used to analyze the data.
 
Findings: Forward head, round shoulder, and kyphosis deformities had significant improvements in training group in comparison to control group from pre to post test(P <0.05).
 
Discussion & Conclusions: It is suggested that people with SCI who spend a lot of hours on the wheelchair should modify the position of the nose using the proposed NASM-based training exercises in this study on a regular basis in order to prevent muscle imbalance and developing the deformities in the upper quadrant of the body.

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Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes constant irreversible functional deficits. Poor prognosis of such a disease prompts scientists to work on an effective way of treatment. Stem cell transplantation provides a promising strategy for such researchers. Using olfactory ensheathed cells (OECs) has, so far, indicated very good results. Hensce, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transplanted OECs on functional recovery of delayed phase of SCI in rats.
 
Materials & Methods: In this survey, eighteen adult male wistar rats were divided into sham, control, vehicle, and treatment groups. Sham group received only laminectomy in the T9 segment of spinal cord, while in other groups, contusion model was induced following laminectomy.7 days  after  injury, DMEM medium alone or with OECs was injected to the vehicle and treatment groups, respectively. For cell culture, the olfactory mucosa of 7-day-old male wistar rats was used. Locomotor behavior of animals in all the groups was evaluated by BBB, (Basso, Bresnahan and Beattie) test.
 
Findings: Comparison of the results by the second week to the end of the study illustrated significant changing differences between the OECs receivers and the control group, (p< 0.05).
 
Discussion & Conclusion: Our investigation demonstrated a positive impact of the OECs on functional recovery in the delayed phase of SCI.

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Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious clinical disorder, which involves the patient’s family as well as the community. After sever SCI, astrocytes of the central nervous system become reactive astrocytes, and produce glial scar which is a major obstacle to axons regeneration in the spinal cord. However, some studies have confirmed a spontaneous partial locomotor recovery in injured animals in the course of time and without any therapeutic interventions. Thus, in this study, locomotor function of animals with SCI was assessed to determine the exact scope of such a recovery through BBB (Basso, Bresnahan and Beattie) locomotor test during 20 weeks.
 
Materials and Methods: In this research, 18 adult male Wistar rats were used and randomly divided into 3equale groups: the  normal control, the sham, the injured. Animals in the normal control group did not received any intervention, but for the sham and injured groups, laminectomy and contusion model in segment T10 of spinal cord were accomplished, respectively. Locomotor improvement of animals in all the groups was evaluated for 20 weeks.
 
Findings: According to our investigation, comparison of the results of locomotor assessment of the second week against that of the 20th week of the spinal cord injured group without treatment demonstrated  a partial locomotor recovery, since the BBB score of lesion in these animals was 1.4 in the second week and reached up to 16 in the Twentieth week.
 
Discussion & Conclusion: Our Results showed that spontaneous locomotor recovery in animals with spinal cord defects increases after 20 weeks (from 16 21 score) in the course of  time and without any therapeutic interventions.

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‌Introduction: Spinal cord injury is one of the important unresolved problems in the medical society leading to adverse consequences, such as motionlessness and neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is seen in both forms of hyperalgesia and allodynia. In this study, the effects of low-level laser radiation on hyperalgesia pain have been investigated.
 
Material & Methods: In this experimental study, animals (N=16) were divided into two groups(i.e., spinal cord injury and laser treatment). Aneurysm clip was used to induce spinal cord injury. Half an hour after the induction of spinal cord injury, animals were exposed to laser for 45 seconds every day up to four weeks. At the end of each week, the animals underwent a heat-hyperalgesia test. The results were analyzed in Prism software,version 6 .The value of  P <0.05 was considered significant.
 
Findings: Surgery of the induced spinal cord injury reduced threshold of hyperalgesia pain, compared to the control group (P<0.001). Low-level laser radiation for four weeks increased the pain threshold so that the pain proved equal to the control group and there was a significant difference between treated and spinal cord injured animals (P<0.001).
 
Discussion & Conclusions: Using a low-level laser as an anti-inflammatory agent in the first line treatment can be useful in controlling injury side effects shortly after a spinal cord injury; moreover,it can reduce the pain and inflammation caused by spinal cord injury.