Space Exploration’s Impact on TBI Recovery

I’m not even three months into the lease for our office for Ryan’s Rally LLC and I already know I need more space! To be more exact, it should be a cross between a workshop and an office. Where else will I be able to build a centrifuge?

I’m not joking either.

First, allow me to backup a little and explain where I’m going with this. I’ve always watch shows and documentaries on many topics, but I was alway interested in exploration — particularly space — and war. It is my belief that these two have given civilization more advances than anything else. Where do you think the common GPS in our car came from? Nary a soul can argue about the great taste of Tang or the many uses of velcro.

These two find there way into all aspects of our lives too. Sports immediately comes to mind (hey, I’m a guy…), most notably football. It recognizes the value of outflanking your opponent. It gives us the “wishbone” offensive formation and the “blitz” on defense.

It became apparent that space exploration can be applied to brain injury.  Well… on the effects of brain injury, if you want to get all technical on my ass. I am already using a Whole Body Vibration machine on Ryan that NASA used on the shuttle missions (more on that in a future post, but you can read about it’s purpose here). These explorers deal with similar issues like bone density loss, muscle atrophy, boredom, and so on. This is why I am pulling for research into making a manned-mission to Mars. The longterm challenges are really not a whole lot different than what Ryan faces. It’s nothing more than how does one stay healthy when the body doesn’t routinely get challenged by normal daily activity?

In space travel, gravity is the main concern. There are ways to counteract this — or, more accurately, create it — but they are too large or expensive. For example, to artificially create gravity they could spin the entire vessel (think of the sensation you get on a merry-go-round), but the vessel itself would need to be about a mile across so there’s no way to practically get this off the launch pad. Then there’s the idea of creating “micro-environments” within the space capsule, but the side-effects are enormous; like vertigo and nausea. Ryan would be no different, I suppose, as the mind tries to make sense of motion when none should exist.

But, that’s not (as much of) a problem here on Mother Earth where the natural pull of the planet instinctively provides us with a reference. A feeling that we evolved to not even notice.  This means I’m only limited by three things: 1) the knowledge to construct a “micro-environment,” 2) the space to build and use it, and 3) the cost; and it’s not something I can put on the Wish List (please take a look a this, Ryan needs several items urgently). To me, these are all obstacles but not dead-ends. I can do this, if I put my mind to it and get the outside resources to help me learn.

It might be fool-hearted to even try, but I already have the concept in my mind. I am so committed to helping brain injured people (and those who are paralyzed, by default) that I believe I must at least give er’ a shot. I am compelled to think big… outside the box, as it were. True, Ryan is my sole motivation but my reason really doesn’t matter. Who cares where we find our motivation, as long as it is pure.

Pure… and fitting nicely with my secret urge to be a Mad Scientist. Imagine me wringing my hands as I let out a “blah, ha, ha.”

—–

DON’T MISS: Tomorrow’s Guest Post by Paula Yocom. It is title Watching Ken and Ryan and is Part 2 from her post last Saturday, On the Trail of a Miracle.