Cross-posting: blog post from the Philippine-American Physiatrist Association (PAPA)

Here is something I wrote for Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month, originally posted on PAPA’s website, papaorg1975.com. To access the blog post, click here, or just keep on reading. This also marks the first social media post with my new professional headshot! Many thanks to PAPA for having me as part of their Ask a […]

Trans-Pacific Education in Rehabilitation Medicine during the COVID-19 Pandemic

It’s been a busy two months with Rehabilitation Medicine education! Let’s start with the clinical field I am most passionate about. The Philippine General Hospital Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is celebrating its 50th year as a department with Insights: Looking In & Beyond, a monthly webinar series of special topics in Rehabilitation Medicine. I had […]

Penguin Bloom, the Movie

Confession: I first did not want to watch this movie because I felt it would be too much like work, because its protagonist has a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). But curiosity got the better of me. I also knew there was some healing (psychosocial, not physical) involved, so that would make it some form […]

How does a spinal cord injury affect your body? Part 4 of 4.

Fourth of a series. Read part one (mobility, spasms, skin), part two (bowel, bladder, sex), and part three (heart, blood pressure, breathing). This post will deal with musculoskeletal issues: muscles and bones. In addition to problems with mobility, not being able to use all four limbs has its other medical complications. Overuse Humans are meant […]

How does a spinal cord injury affect your body? Part 3 of 4.

Third of a series. Read part one (mobility, spasms, skin) and part two (bowel, bladder, sex). There are some things in the human body that you don’t think about until there’s something wrong… then you notice. A spinal cord injury can do that and be the “something wrong” that messes things up. This blog post […]

How does a spinal cord injury affect your body? Part 2 of 4.

Second of a series. Find part one (mobility, spasms, skin) here. Unlike the loss of movement, losing control of bodily functions like bowel movements, urination and sex are less obvious clinical complications of spinal cord injury (SCI). Stuff you take for granted, which are noticed when they’re not working. Bowel Movements Think about it: you […]

How does a spinal cord injury affect your body? Part 1 of 4.

There really is no short answer to this question, but I’ll try my best to present this clearly, in bite-sized pieces and an organized manner. Mobility This is the most obvious clinical problem. Any part of the body above the spinal cord injury remains normal, while parts below the injury have no movement or altered […]

FAQ for SCI: Some Frequently Asked Questions about Spinal Cord Injury

BruceBlaus, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons We briefly tackled what an SCI is on the Resources for SCI page, but here’s a bit more in-depth information. To recap: the spinal cord can be thought of as an extension of your brain – it is made of nerve tissue that runs from the base of […]