Here is the first of our weekly updates on James’ progress. Watch out for new updates every Saturday.

Every week James seems to have some sort of testing and this week we went into the Hand Clinic at Royal North Shore for an assessment and to try and gain some knowledge on how we can get some finger movement and strength into James’ hands. He also had tests on other limbs and currently, his injury under the ASIA (American Spinal Injury Association) is C4-C5 complete but we are hoping for an improvement in this assessment in the coming weeks.

James has regular Physiotherapy Occupational therapy at the Rehab Centre and we are seeing good neck and shoulder movement and a little strength in his back. Unfortunately, there is only one session of Hydrotherapy a week as the clients all say how much they enjoy the freedom of the pool.

James has measurable biceps and triceps in his right arm but no coordinated wrist or finger movement. His right arm is still very weak.

There is good evidence of his upper thigh pushing away from his body and we are all working hard to gain hip flexor and hamstring strength. Several extremities of the body are showing flickers and the short term objectives are to convert these tiny flickers into functional movement.