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17 June 2011

Scuba Diving Could Help Treat Paraplegics

WBALTV -

Neurological researchers in Baltimore are investigating how scuba diving affects a person's mental and physical health.

When it comes to treating paralysis, water therapy isn't new, but two doctors from two of Baltimore's biggest medical institutions are working together to find out what more underwater treatment could do.

The doctors -- Dr. Adam Kaplin, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology and chief psychiatric consultant at the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers and Dr. Daniel Becker, a board-certified neurologist and the head of pediatric restoration therapy at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Kennedy Krieger Institute -- recently went underwater in the Grand Caymans with 10 paraplegic veterans and 10 control subjects to study what effect, if any, scuba diving could have on the mind and body of those with spinal cord injuries.

"This was a new aspect I never thought about," Becker said. "We see this as the basis for a lot of exciting research to come.""We're very excited about the idea that this is a pilot study; this isn't going to be a definitive study.

But from our preliminary data, it looks like there is something," Kaplin said.Becker and Kaplin are pioneering the study at the urging of Cody Unser. The daughter of Indianapolis racing great Al Unser Jr. was diagnosed at the age of 12 with transverse myelitis, a disease that rendered her paralyzed within minutes.

Now 24, Cody Unser remains determined to become scuba certified. Like the rest of her family, she learned to dive and quickly discovered something amazing about her body.

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