People with Spinal Cord Injury Share Their Inpatient Rehabilitation Experiences in New Blog

"From My Perspective" is a new blog featuring posts by people with SCI from around the world.

Hear from Sarra, a young mother living on a rural farm in the UK, Keith, a young veteran injured during a diving accident and Marjorie, a single mom living in Canada and Ian, a man whose spinal cord injury came in retirement.

Read the Blog

Nick Formanski Brings His Experience with SCI to Work at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

In November 2001, Nick was admitted as an inpatient to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now Shirley Ryan AbilityLab) after sustaining a traumatic spinal cord injury. In 2008, six years after his discharge, Nick returned as an employee on the research team. Today, Nick utilizes his personal experience and professional expertise as a senior project coordinator with the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research and peer mentor with the Henry B. Betts, MD, LIFE Center.

Check Out the Updated Depression and SCI Fact Sheet

The Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center Fact Sheet on Depression and SCI has been updated. CROR Director, Allen Heinemann, PhD, CROR Healthcare Communications Associate, Sharon Parmet, and Charles Bombardier, PhD, Professor of Rehabilitation Psychology & Neuropsychology at the University of Washington, Seattle led the update.

Get the Fact Sheet

"I Was A Wheelchair Kid"

This new podcast features the true stories of children and teens who were suddenly paralyzed and had to figure out how to navigate their lives in a wheelchair. It is co-produced by FacingDisability.com and the Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

Listen to the Podcast

SCI Research Opportunities

This study will evaluate changes in physical activity using a customized, interactive exercise app and e-coaching compared to a more traditional exercise app. Participation lasts 6 months and is mostly remote, however, three visits to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab are required. You must be at least one year post-spinal cord injury and have access to a personal mobile device to participate.

To learn more, email Anusha Banerjee at abanerjee@sralab.org

This study focuses on understanding the unique challenges women with SCI/D face in navigating their sexual and reproductive healthcare with an emphasis on menstrual and contraceptive care. Participants will complete online interviews. You must identify as a cisgender woman with an SCI/D for more than three years and have had at least one menstrual cycle after injury.

Click here to complete a brief screening to see if you are eligible for this study.

INside the OUTcomes: A Rehabilitation Research Podcast

Learn about a noninvasive approach to improving motor function in people with SCI pioneered by Monica Perez, PT, PhD, Scientific Chair, Arms + Hands Lab at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

Find out how you can become involved in research (and you don't have to live in Chicago!) on our episode on the Clinical Research Registry at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

Listen on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts ⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The CROR FY 2024 Annual Report is Online

It was a busy year for the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab! Managing more than $14.5 million in grant funding and publishing more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts this year, CROR is one of the largest research groups at this top ranked, first-of-its-kind translational rehabilitation hospitals. Read all about our accomplishments, publications, presentations, awards, accolades and more in the Annual Report.

Read the Report

The Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System (MRSCICS) at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is a leading center for innovative, integrated, interdisciplinary research and care for persons with spinal cord injury. It manages several research projects, both unique to MRSCICS and in collaboration with other Model System Spinal Cord Injury Centers around the nation. MRSCICS also contributes data to the National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Database, established in 1973 as a repository of data collected through the collaborative efforts of federally funded SCI Model System Centers.

MRSCICS Matters Newsletter Archive

For questions or comments, email outcomesresearch@sralab.org

This newsletter is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grants 90DPKT0007 and 90SIMS0015). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS). The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL or DHSS and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.