Sam Schmidt regaining motor, sensory functions

Thursday, March 2, 2000 | 10:34 a.m.

After a successful transfer to the spinal cord injury Neurorehabilitative Unit at the Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Indy Racing League driver Sam Schmidt has recovered enhanced ability to spontaneously breathe and has begun to gain motor and sensory function below his original level of injury.

Schmidt, a Henderson resident, arrived in St. Louis five weeks ago after severely injuring his upper spine during an IRL open test at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.

His transition into the Neurorehabilitative Unit occurred just three weeks ago. According to John W. McDonald, M.D., Ph.D, director of the Spinal Cord Injury Unit and assistant professor of neurology and neurological surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, Schmidt has already begun to regain lost vital functions.

Schmidt regained the ability to breathe on his own and has been off the ventilator for several weeks. Devices needed to support Schmidt have now been removed, including tracheotomy and gastric tubes.

The 34-year-old father of two also has begun to demonstrate improvements in his neurologic function since being able to participate in the advanced rehabilitative program designed for him by his Washington University spinal cord injury physicians.

Besides traditional rehabilitation, Schmidt is participating in a program designed to optimize neural activity in the injured spinal cord and to enhance the ability of the central nervous system to regenerate. This program includes rigorous daily training with functional electrical stimulation, electrically stimulated self-power bicycle, and individual muscle stimulators.

Schmidt also is beginning training with partial weight supported walking using a parachute-type harness and an electrical treadmill. He has been fitted for a bioengineering system that initiates his hands to open and close to enhance activation to the spinal cord.

Schmidt already has undergone two neurosurgical procedures to stabilize his neck vertebral fractures. The first was completed in Orlando and involved anterior spinal fusion between the C3 and C4 vertebrae with a bone aliograft to help fuse the two healing vertebrae.

Once he was transferred to St. Louis, Dr. Carl Lauryssen, a neurosurgical member of the Washington University Spinal Trauma Assessment and Treatment Team, performed a posterior spinal fusion procedure to strengthen the C2 through C5 vertebrae.