Injured in an automobile accident in the October 1999, I spent nearly seven months in the hospital for recovery and rehabilitation.  With only a slight improvement in motor function over this period, I was told at the time of my discharge that I would not see much more improvement and I would never walk again.  Despite this diagnosis I continued to exercise and research alternative spinal cord injury treatments.  After reading about the laserponcture treatment offered by Dr. Albert Bohbot in the spring of 2001 I contacted a number of well respected members of the American spinal cord rehabilitation community for their opinion of Dr. Bohbot’s work.  These doctors were very impressed with many aspects of the laserponcture treatment and encouraged me to consider traveling to France to visit Dr. Bohbot’s clinic. I made my first, and longest, trip for nine weeks in the summer of 2001 and have returned over a dozen times since then. 

In the five years that I have been a laserponcture patient I have seen substantial benefits from the treatment.  By the end of my first trip, I was able to pedal a stationary bike against resistance, walk forwards, backwards, and sidestep with calipers, and use a walker to travel outside of the treadmill.  The muscle mass in my legs continues to increase with each trip to the clinic.  As my strength and balance improves so does my ability to walk independently and with a natural gait.  I have been able to increase the flex angles in the knee joints of the calipers Dr. Bohbot designed to accompany the laserponcture treatment, allowing for better movement and increased strength. Along with motor function improvement, laserponcture has also provided me with other benefits. My circulation has improved, shortening the healing time for wounds on my lower legs and feet.   Improved sensation has also benefited my bowel and bladder regime.

Although the improvements I have described above can be measured and recorded, the most important and valuable benefits of laserponcture treatment are immeasurable.   Because of laserponcture and the work of Dr. Bohbot, three years after I was told that I would never walk again I walked across the stage to receive my Juris Doctor diploma, sharing the experience with my friends and classmates.  Laserponcture has had a profoundly positive impact on my physical and emotional health and I feel fortunate to have developed a relationship with Dr. Bohbot and his team. 

Daniel A
 

DOB: 10 June 1977

Date of accident : 1 Oct. 1999

Car accident (driver)

Level of injury: T12

Hospital report from Magee Riverfront, Jefferson Health System, 28 July 2000:
T12 ASIA C, flaccid paraplegia

• Motor system: voluntary motricity of his hips; walking with KAFOs and forearm crutches.
• Sensory system:
  Light touch: down to his thighs.
  Pain: down to his hips.
  Hot and cold: down to his hips.
  Pressure: down to his thighs.
• Bowels: cannot when his bowels are full; manual extraction of stools.
• Bladder: cannot feels when his bladder is full.
• Intimate sensations: erection but not ejaculation.
• Independent for toileting and dressing.
• Voluntary motricity:
  Flexion, abduction, adduction in right and left hips: 2/5.
       Extension left hip: 2/5
       Extension right hip: 1/5
  Rotation inwards and outwards of right and left hips: 1/5.
  Flexion of right hip: 1/5.
  Flexion - extension of left knee, extension of right knee: 1+/5.
  Dorsiflexion and plantar flexion of left and right ankles: 1/5.

Limbs measurements	Pinprick tests
	31/12/04	03/01/05	11/05/06
	29/03/07

Beginning of treatment: 5 June 2001

1. Stability

• Since May 2000: stands in parallel bars and feel the weight of his body in his hips.
• Since Aug. 2001: feels the weight of his body in his feet, knees and bottom.

2. Mobility

• Is able to ride a stationary bike since his arrival at the clinic in June 2001, and against resistance since Aug. 2002.

3.1. Voluntary locomotricity

• 17 Dec. 2001: voluntary ascension of his left kneecap (grade 1+); begins to contract his right kneecap
• 30 Dec. 2001: begins to move his big toe (grade 2) and the other toes simultaneously in his right foot , and left big toe (grade 2).
• 26 Aug. 2003: voluntary movement of all his articulations except his right ankle (grade 2).
• 3 Jan. 2005: voluntarily movement of his right ankle.

3.2. Walking

• July 2001: can walk with a walker or on a treadmill with his KAFOs.
• 28 Aug. 2003: can walk with crutches in his KAFOs; can walk on a treadmill with splints.
• 3 Jan. 2005:
  - Walking with a walker or on a treadmill with his KAFOs is easier: Daniel has more balance and a better control of his hips and trunk.
  - Can lift his kneecaps (not constant) but cannot lock them.

4. Sensory level

• Light touch:
  4 Jan. 2004: normal down to his knees on the front (L2 dermatom) and down to the upper third of his thighs on the back.
• Pressure:
  4 Jan. 2004: normal down to his knees (slightly above) on the front (L1 and L2 dermatoms) and down to the upper third of his thighs on the back.
• Pain: nil.
  Feels percussion in bones and muscles immediately below his injury.
• Hot: nil.
• Cold: nil.
• Pinprick: see testings done on 31 Dec. 2004 and 3 Jan. 2005.
  According to Daniel, the sensation of pinprick is felt as pinprick, tingling or electricity.
• Sweats below his SCI level because of hot temperatures or from physical exercises:
  - Down to the upper third of his left leg (front and back).
  - Right leg: down to half of his calf.

5. Bowels and bladder

• Bowels:
  - 30 Dec. 2003: feels when his bowels are full through pressure.
  - 3 Jan. 2004: feels when his bowels are full through spasms, sweating, malaise, and pressure in his abdominal muscles; easier to keep his stools but has still leakings; opens the sphincter by digital stimulation.
  - 3 Jan. 2005: feels when his bowels are full more precisely through spasms, heat, rapid heartbeat, and pressure in his abdominal muscles.
• Bladder:
  - Jan. 2002: knows when his bladder is full through spasms but it is not a constant feeling; 3 to 4 cath. a day.
  - 3 Jan. 2004: knows when his bladder is full through spasms, sweating, headaches, and pressure in his abdominal muscles but it is not a constant feeling; can pass water by contracting his abdominal muscles but  not constant; checks with a catheter if his bladder is empty.
  - 3 Jan. 2005: knows when his bladder is full through spasms, rapid heartbeat, pressure and tension in his abdominal muscles; the feelings occur each time he needs to pass water. Can pass water by strongly contracting his abdominal muscles and pushing on his bladder with his hands; cath. after urination: 50 cc.
   
• Intimate sensations:
  - 26 Aug. 2003: has appropriate erections; physical sensations during sexual intercourse but not constant; feeling of the catheter at the urinary meatus but not constant.

Last update: 20 Nov. 2008