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The Department of Physical Therapy has received a $10,000 gift from Helping Empower a Life: Spinal Cord Injury (HEAL SCI) toward the purchase of a specialized piece of equipment for rehabilitation therapy for patients with spinal cord injury.

Given in January, the gift supports the PowerStep SCI Research Program led by Assistant Professor Selina Morgan, PT, DPT, NCS. The PowerStep is a body-weight supported treadmill used in activity-based locomotor training for people with complete or incomplete paralysis. Activity-based locomotor training  “enables increased physical capacity by flooding the body with an ensemble of sensory input to generate motor outcomes,” according to a description of the method included in a request for funding support.

Morgan, assistant director of clinical education in the PT department, estimates about 30,000 people in San Antonio live with paralysis. There is a significant gap in access to physical therapy rehabilitation using activity-based locomotor training, she said.

Morgan has been a member of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s ’s pediatric network since 2021.

Additional funds are still needed for the research program, Morgan said. For more information, contact Director of Development Anna Chowdhury at chowdhurya@uthscsa.edu or 210-450-7308.