Carlsbad, California – A revolutionary US-based recovery program for people sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI) is about to hit Australia thanks to Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA) and Project Walk, a nonprofit organization located in
San Diego, California.

The Dardzinski Method™ practiced and taught at Project Walk is the most intensive, specialized, comprehensive exercise-based recovery program available.  The program’s success is based on highly skilled specialists who go through a several year, hands-on certification process, learning how a dysfunctional nervous system recovers. 

SCI Australia and Walk On Recovery Trainer Emma Dayman says, “Walk On, the exercise recovery project of SCIA, offers an innovative approach to the long term management of spinal cord injury rehabilitation and recovery in Australia.  At present there is no cure for spinal cord injury. The Walk On program using the Project Walk methodology is a progressive and sophisticated strategy designed to stimulate and elicit functional recovery,” says Ms. Dayman.  “I believe The Dardzinski Method is the leading SCI recovery methodology available in the world today.”

“When you consider that on average 300 Australians each year acquire a spinal cord injury and most are between the ages of 15 and 25, it is simply inhumane to condemn a young and recently injured person to 40 or 50 years in a wheelchair without any hope.  By maximizing recovery with intensive one-on-one treatment and appropriate nervous system stimulation, we can improve the physical capabilities of a person with SCI, their level of independence and overall quality and enjoyment of life.”

Ms. Dayman said US findings of the Project Walk methodology demonstrated the techniques increased central nervous system activity, muscle mass and movement, and decreased pain, depression, skin tissue breakdown and other health problems associated with spinal cord injury.

With support from Spinal Cure Australia and Sporting Wheelies Disabled Association of Queensland, exercise physiologists from Walk On are currently training in The Dardzinski Method at Project Walk in San Diego, California.  Walk On expects to begin working with clients in Brisbane during late March, 2008.

Walk On and SCIA invite the media to interview and film the beginnings of Walk On in Australia.  To set an appointment, please contact Mr. David Prast, Director of SCIA in Brisbane, at dprast@scia.org.au  or Mob. 0438 93 90 93.

For more information on SCIA and Walk On, visit www.scia.org.au/walkon or
phone 1800 819 775.

For more information on Project Walk visit www.projectwalk.org. For more information on the Certification/Licensing program, please contact Tammy Dardzinski at tamdard@sbcglobal.net or call  760.431.9789. 

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