Voluntary movement

12/01/2020

This week began the next mapping phase, which focuses on voluntary movement and core balance. Today was my second session after a pretty tough day yesterday of not eliciting too much motion. For two hours, the goal is for me to lay on my back and concentrate on trying to move three different muscle groups within each of my legs – big toe, ankle, and then bring my knee to my chest. Well, yesterday was a tough day but today, after being injured for nearly 39 years, I was able to voluntarily bring my leg up to my chest and then extend it one at a time! I have a lot of work to do but I did it, and the researchers were super excited! Five out of six times I was able to bring my knee up to my chest. It’s all about trying to tap into that circuitry and making it work. It’s a strange feeling, but I could feel the excitement of my spinal cord as it was waiting for me to command my leg to move in a particular way. After a tough day yesterday, it was a good day! Tomorrow is another two hours of doing it again. I wish we were doing it again right now!

Tomorrow, I will try to take some video and hopefully, I didn’t just jinx it! Say a prayer.