Prior to January 1994, Teresa Schroeder was an Army radiology technician who loved to take spur-of-the-moment weekend trips with her husband. She was an avid swimmer and biker who was training for a marathon, and loved all outdoor activities. Then, on January 27, 1994, Teresa was involved in a sledding accident. She suffered a burst fracture in her L1 vertebra (lower back) and an incomplete injury to her spinal cord. A burst fracture occurs when the vertebrae is crushed in all directions, and is much more serious than a compression fracture. An incomplete spinal cord injury results in a partial loss of brain signals to muscles and nerves. At the time of her injury, Teresa was on active duty and received care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The day after her accident, Teresa had an L1 corpectomy, a surgical procedure that involves the removal of all or part of the intervertebral disc, combined with placement of a titanium cylindrical cage, an interbody fusion device, and a z-rod from the T12 to L2 vertebrae. At the time of her surgery the use of the titanium prosthesis was a relatively new procedure.

After her surgery, Teresa's main focus was on regaining the ability to walk. "Rehabilitation is the key to recovery--get up and get moving as quickly as possible to keep the muscles from atrophying," she explains. Teresa lost all of her calf muscles to atrophy, a degeneration of tissue due to inactivity, and has only 50 percent strength in her hamstrings and gluteal muscles.

Neurological damage from her accident has required Teresa to be on a regimented bowel and bladder program that must be scheduled into all daily activities and trips. She has to carefully manage her liquid intake to prevent bladder accidents. "I cannot be as spontaneous as I once was. I am unable to just pick up and go on trips now. When I travel, I must always be sure that I have my own bathroom," she notes.

With the help of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Teresa was able to go back to school on a vocational rehabilitation program, and received her MBA in May 1998. She currently works in Spine Research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in the department of orthopaedics. Although she will probably never be able to run again, Teresa tries to stay as active as possible with biking, hiking and lots of walking. She lifts weights to maintain muscle strength and reduce pain.

As an incomplete spinal cord injury patient and a researcher at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Teresa has a thorough understanding of the need for additional research funding. Of the 800 inpatients who have arrived from Iraq, her department has seen more than 100 spinal cord injuries. "More research [funding] needs to be spent on the biomechanics of the spine to restore function, on possible implants for the neurologic bowel and bladder [control], and on the rehabilitation of motor function, as well as in spine cord/column injury prevention," Teresa says.