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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: Navigating the Journey of SCI

Understanding the Spinal Cord Injury Journey The journey of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is fraught with physical and psychological challenges…

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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: Psychotherapy and Mindfulness for Mental Health Management after Spinal Cord Injury

The Importance of Mental Health Management Post-SCI Following a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), mental health management becomes an integral part…

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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: The Role of Mindful Exercises in Managing SCI Symptoms

Understanding the Importance of Mindful Exercises for Spinal Cord Injury Mindful exercises form an integral part of managing the aftermath…

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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: Combining Traditional and Holistic Treatments for SCI

Introduction to Integrated Treatment Approaches to Spinal Cord Injury In managing the physical and psychological aftermath of a spinal cord…

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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: Psychological Repercussions of Spinal Cord Injury

Understanding the Psychological Impact of Spinal Cord Injury The physical consequences of a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) are often immediate…

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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: Understanding Fibromyalgia and Nerve Damage Post SCI

Introduction to Fibromyalgia and Nerve Damage Post SCI In the wake of a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), the complications that…

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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

28 May: The Challenge of Spasticity in SCI

The Challenge of Spasticity in SCI The aftermath of a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) presents several complex physical challenges, one…

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Ryan Shazier Foundation
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By Tommy Spinal Cord Injury

19 Jul: NFL Steeler’s Ryan Shazier’s Spinal Rehabilitation Foundation writes story on Tommy Walks Again

I want to thank NFL Steeler’s Pro Bowler Ryan Shazier and the Ryan Shazier Fund for Spinal Rehabilitation for inviting…

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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury
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By Tommy Articles & Studies

16 Feb: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) Improves Recovery Outcomes After Spinal Cord Injury

This study was published this month talking about the benefits of oxygenating the body with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) after…

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Today Marks My 13th Year Being a Paraplegic
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By Tommy Daily Updates

10 Aug: Daily Update # 132: Today marks my 13th year of being a Paraplegic

Today marks my 13th year being a paraplegic. August 10th, 2008, 8 days after my 21st birthday, I was hit…

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This is what the spinal cord looks like in real li This is what the spinal cord looks like in real life… and it’s nothing short of a biological marvel!

Inside, the gray matter takes the shape of a butterfly 🦋 — processing motor and sensory signals that help you move, feel, and react.
Surrounding it, the white matter carries electrical impulses ⚡ — connecting your brain to every corner of your body with lightning speed.

The spinal cord is divided into dorsal, ventral, and lateral horns, each with crucial roles:
— Voluntary movement
— Automatic functions like breathing or regulating your heartbeat

The myelinated nerve fibers form spinal nerves — vital for muscle control and interpreting the world around you.

But the most incredible part?
Many of your movements — even walking — happen without conscious thought.
It’s all thanks to intricate neural circuits running in flawless sync, orchestrating your body like a silent, perfect machine.

💡 The human body is extraordinary — and the spinal cord? One of its most stunning masterpieces.
Tangerine Juice + Sea Salt water on top of @perfec Tangerine Juice + Sea Salt water on top of @perfectamino tablets before the workout. 🙌🙏

BCAA’s by themselves always gave me a jazzy boost that sometimes gave me anxiety but with the brand @garybrecka recommends, their formula has Tryptophan in it (which converts to Serotonin), which has a relaxing quality to it. Much better for me. 

I am a big big fan of 5-HTP for mood. 5-HTP converts to Serotonin in the brain, one of the best neurotransmitters for us to stay positive and stay on top of things. Tryptophan is the pre-cursor to 5-HTP. Tryptophan -> 5-HTP -> Serotonin. Oh how this works out beautifully.

Lastly, Gary wasn’t lying, the pump (equivalent to 30g Whey Protein) is noticeable.

Love ya, I’m out to the gym. 🙌🙏🌍❤️
Just picked up this Red Light Therapy unit. My foo Just picked up this Red Light Therapy unit. My foot is out of the cast and in a boot now. It’s a little freaky using my foot cause I don’t want to break it (or something) I dunno it feels anxious currently. It’s still really swollen so I’m icing, adding DoTerra Tea Tree & Copaiba oil topically, drinking the hydrogen water, the usual supplements & protein, and now, Red Light Therapy.

@drterrywahls recommends Red Light Therapy and now @garybrecka is also talking about it. I decided it’s worth the $$ and it’s making me feel tangibly better. It’s undeniable it’s doing something not only locally to the area but to my mood. I feel like I just sat out in the sun, which is like my lifeline during Summer for feeling complete.

More to talk about on this. I gotta run to the gym and still do homework tonight.

One love PT fam. 🙌🙏🌍❤️
I just got in this Hydrogen water bottle the other I just got in this Hydrogen water bottle the other day. A lot of athletes are drinking hydrogen water and bathing in it as well. I learned about it from mortality expert @garybrecka . It’s giving me a boost of energy every time I drink it and I hope it’s helping to heal my foot!

Antioxidant effects:
Hydrogen molecules act as antioxidants, helping to neutralize harmful free radicals in the body which can contribute to cell damage and disease. 

Reduced inflammation:
Studies suggest hydrogen water may have anti-inflammatory properties, potentially benefiting conditions related to chronic inflammation. 

Improved athletic performance:
Some research indicates hydrogen water can enhance exercise endurance by reducing muscle fatigue and lactate accumulation. 

Potential for metabolic health benefits:
Studies have shown hydrogen water may improve lipid profiles (cholesterol levels) and glucose metabolism in some individuals. 

Skin health:
Due to its antioxidant properties, hydrogen water may contribute to healthier skin by reducing oxidative damage from environmental factors. 

Alright, back to studying. 🙌🙏
New hand built study desk, new me. 📚 Doing this New hand built study desk, new me. 📚 Doing this much PT post surgery while fighting off an infection in my foot all while still focusing on the fact that I need to keep my 3.6 GPA has felt really overwhelming lately. 

I think I’m going to hop on the “study with me” trend I’m seeing online right now to make things more interesting and to stay motivated. I think it’s also great to show that even with SCI or other disabilities or chronic illness, that doing well in school is totally doable. It’s much more difficult than it really should be, but that’s just life. Life for us is just a little bit harder and that’s OK.

One love PT fam. 🙌🙏🌍❤️
This foot hasn’t seen 90 degrees in a very long This foot hasn’t seen 90 degrees in a very long time. Surgery went perfect! Love you guys. Thank you for all the support in the comments, DM’s and texts! It’s made all the difference. 🙌🙏🌍❤️
I’m having an Achilles Tendon lengthening surger I’m having an Achilles Tendon lengthening surgery on December 19th.  I’m finally doing it even though I’m worried about it.

The semester just ended. Finals are done as of Thursday night. I feel good about everything. I realized this semester with Programming Fundamentals II and College Algebra for PreCalculus that things were way more difficult than they needed to be.

The tension in my left foot travels up to my knee and my spine and affects everything. The worst is it makes my neck sting super bad and then I can’t study, work, nothing, I just have to stop instantly and lay down or it’ll make it worse.

I also noticed that when it hurts I’m not as outgoing as usual, so I’m like 70% regular me and then 30% not regular me and I sort of just mute myself and don’t engage with the world around me because I know it’s not my true self in those moments and that feels… not so great.

I’ve gone through so many variations of myself trying to work around this injury and in doing all that there’s been a fuzziness as to what issue is the worst. Nerve pain, spasms/muscle pain, orthopedic pain, or the sort of psychological distress component of it as it ramps up anxiety and other emotions that wouldn’t exist if this injury didn’t exist.

I’ve finally realized that I’ve been putting up with too much and making things too difficult for myself. It’s time to do this and just figure out complications after the fact if any arise.

School has given me the canvas to see this clearly and I’m grateful for this in a big big way. This post by @americanbaron is literally the perfect depiction of how I’ve felt about it. Maybe this is a sign for all of us to… do the thing.

Love you guys. More to come. 🙌🙏🌎❤️
Let’s gooooo ❤️ . . . . . 📸 ac.and.you Let’s gooooo ❤️

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📸 ac.and.you (TT)
The most basic human instinct is to love and to be The most basic human instinct is to love and to be loved. This is what I learned from my injury. The second thing I learned is that pain and suffering amounts to spiritual currency. They intertwine and support each other…so powerful. 🙌🙏
A lot of synchronistic events have been happening A lot of synchronistic events have been happening lately & propelling my physical health and making me realize I need to be really really determined in the gym, PT, with diet, and that I need schedule some surgeries like a Achilles tendon release surgery that I’ve been super scared to do. It is time.

So, to help boost myself and hopefully others up, I think I’m going to try something new and post motivational & uplifting content from around social media. Things that make me feel good inside and I’m hopeful that it will make you feel good as well. ❤️

I will be making some update videos about myself just like normal as well in between! I’ve been living in Austin, TX for a while now and going to school for Computer Science. I’m a sophomore now and currently am holding a 3.6 GPA. It’s a lot of work and definitely stressful on my injured body, but some how, I’m doing it.

That’s my update for now. More videos to come!

One love. 🙌🙏🌍❤️

📸 @mdmotivator
Thank you Austin, the city I’ve grown in more th Thank you Austin, the city I’ve grown in more than I ever could’ve imagined. ❤️

#atx #austintx #austintexas #texas #atxlife #atxlifestyle
I realized I needed some support. My neck has been I realized I needed some support. My neck has been hurting quite a bit for a while now and I've just been sucking it up. I realized that's sort of not OK and I needed to take action to help fix it. I couldn't do it alone though, and I needed help.

Thankfully I met Scott, the owner of @northaustinpt during the pandemic. He was super cool & nice and it made an impression that I remembered. 2yrs later, just a few weeks ago, I gave him a call and scheduled to get on their calendar.

@dr.kelseytardif is here helping me today to work on my shoulder blades and back muscles around the scapula. She's got the @neufitrfp , a really advanced EMS unit that was recommended by @drterrywahls on my back (Thanks Dr. Wahls, thank you Jackie!) and it's surprisingly helpful. Dr. Wahls knows her stuff!

I'm going to continue along this path. For a while I always thought I had to do everything myself. A bit of ego was holding me back. In some way my inner dialog told me I would be weak if I couldn't handle this 100% myself. PT in the beginning of my injury also wasn't as readily available as it is today and I think maybe that had a subliminal play on it as well.

Luckily, I have found my way to PT and I am a grateful for it. The whole team at North Austin Physical Therapy is super helpful and knowledgeable. The social support/community is a huge aspect to getting better as well I'm realizing.

I'll be here until my neck pain is gone and the spasticity bleeding that tension into my facial expressions at times goes away. 🙌🙏

One love PT fam. I hope everyone is feeling great today. This is your sign to make that next step, too. 🙌🙏🌎❤️
Took a second for Austin to get clear skies this y Took a second for Austin to get clear skies this year. It's been hot for a while but it was super cloudy. It's officially tanning time and back to the pool for swim PT. 🙌🙏🏊‍♂️🏊‍♂️

I hope the PT fam is feeling good today. Love you guys. 🙌🙏🌎❤️
Grateful for the support from everybody in my life Grateful for the support from everybody in my life that have helped me rebuild the belief system in myself that I've needed.  Austin, the people I've met, and the mentorship it has provided is exactly what I needed. There's still a long road ahead, but I'm ready.

One love PT fam. 🙌🙏🌎❤️
It isn't always easy, but trying my best to push f It isn't always easy, but trying my best to push forward. I hope you are too! One love PT fam. 🙌🙏🌍❤️
Staying grateful. 🙌🙏 I had a big breakthroug Staying grateful. 🙌🙏 I had a big breakthrough with this muscle in my back and the spasticity around it. It catches my neck and creates a lot of tension and that will travel into my brows and contort my facial expressions, like eyebrows go mega down if they're just meant to seem slightly down, contemplative or in a pondering state, or super duper up and seem too concerned or even judgemental if I'm just in a slightly concerned or unsure state.

All cause that back muscle grabs on and squeezes it super hard. I learned that the only thing that stops our muscles from snapping our bones is the signal being limited by our brains. So imagine if that signal gets messed up (like with a damaged Spinal Cord) and it attempts to clamp down much harder than it should. That is spasticity post neurological trauma. It's powerful and painful. 😯

Anywho wow am I glad. I got this super weird hard to get muscle around my lat area (just below it) to get larger and fill this little pocket that was just not gaining muscle for whatever reason. Now it's putting a halt on those neck strains and facial tensions. I can feel the spasms just clamping down on those back shoulder blade muscles instead and not hitting my neck/face. Thank friggin God cause that was annoying.

So...if you're feeling like that yourself, maybe it's from a weak pocket in the back/shoulder blades area and all that tension is following the path of least resistance to the neck/face. I bet a lot of people have strained necks from this very reason (my neck also hurt from it, big time.)

Sending love to my PT, disability and chronic illness fam. Lets keep pushing forward! 🙌🙏🌍❤️
Back to it. 🙌🙏🌍❤️ Back to it. 🙌🙏🌍❤️
How far we've all come. Looking to the past after How far we've all come. Looking to the past after a disability, injury or chronic illness usually looks worse than our current state. Sometimes, though, we can actually be doing better! We don't think about that too often but it's the reality of sliding up and down a scale of constant & consistent effort to combat some negatively effecting element in our lives after injury. 

It's interesting because my upper body muscle health was good here, I am struggling to maintain balance, but you'd sort of think besides my step/gate struggling a little bit, that I was pretty much good. Little do most know how bad my legs would sting every night with fibromyalgia pain. Or how heavy the spasms were clenching down on my muscles. There were a lot of wet pillows at night during this time I remember in 2018.

I finally learned how to limit hormone-producing foods & excess sodium to help my legs stay thinner and calm that pain.  It seemed the bigger my legs got, the more surface area it gave the nerve endings to malfunction and cause outrageously mind numbing debilitating pain. I still eat those foods, but if I feel the buzzing go past the slightly uncomfortable state (that's always there) to the "whoa!" stage, is when I dial back all salt and avoid hormone producing foods like Mushrooms (Except Reishi, those lowers hormones), Cinnamon, Ashwaganda, Tumeric, Maca, Sage, etc. Super high fat foods pump hormones too so I reduce that until things normalize.

Salt holds onto water, bloating our bodies. Hormones create more Red Blood Cells creating higher blood volume.. Both of these things make our bodies expand and put extra pressure on our skin, which is problematic for Fibro. For me, pain-wise, it's like a light switch. ON/OFF. I used to cry into my pillow a lot of nights because of it for a few years.

Foods that helped me lower hormones were Peppermint, Tomatoes, Nettle, Parsley, Onions, Carrots, Apples, Cilantro, and Rosmary. I have yet to find a great recipe for a perfect balance like a Tumeric+Rosemary or something. It seems hormones will go up easier than they will come down so the ratio is still something I'm experimenting with.

I hope this is helpful for someone. 🙌🙏❤️
Lake Travis is looking amazing today 🙌🙏 Lake Travis is looking amazing today 🙌🙏
Happy 35th bday to meee! 🎂🎉 Just swimming, d Happy 35th bday to meee! 🎂🎉 Just swimming, doing what I do. Sending love out to all the PT warriors out there. Let's get this! 🙌🙏🌎❤️

PS - the audio was removed from this clip and it took my voice track with it!
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© 2021 Tommy Walks Again.
This website is intended as an informational guide. The described approaches and suggested therapies are meant to complement, not replace, professional medical advice and treatment. You are encouraged to seek advice from your doctor on matters related to Spinal Cord Injury.