Scuba: healing the mind, body and soul of paralyzed vets

When it comes to treating spinal cord injury, everyone immediately turns to physical therapy in hopes of regaining any motor functions possible. However, what about the psychological and neurological effects that come with spinal cord injury?  A small study at John Hopkins University took an intimate group of paralyzed veterans on a mini scruba-diving adventure of which the participants experienced significant psyhcological AND physical improvement.

Here are the proven statistics from the ground-breaking study:

The researchers saw an average 15 percent reduction in muscle spasticity in those disabled veterans who went diving and an average 10 percent increase in sensitivity to light touch and 5 percent to pinprick. In some individuals, the improvement in tone, sensation, or motor function was between 20 and 30 percent. The healthy controls experienced no neurologic changes.

The researchers also found an average decrease of 15 percent in obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms in the disabled divers, a similar decrease in signs of depression, and an overall decrease in mental problems using a validated psychological assessment.

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