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Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a technique that uses low-energy electrical pulses to artificially generate body movements in individuals who have been paralyzed due to injury to the central nervous system. More specifically, FES can be used to generate muscle contraction in otherwise paralyzed limbs to produce functions such as grasping, walking, bladder voiding and standing. This technology was originally used to develop neuroprostheses that were implemented to permanently substitute impaired functions in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), head injury, stroke and other neurological disorders. In other words, a person would use the device each time he or she wanted to generate a desired function. FES is sometimes also referred to as neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES).
A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cord below the level of the injury. Injury can occur at any level of the spinal cord and can be complete, with a total loss of sensation and muscle function at lower sacral segments, or incomplete, meaning some nervous signals are able to travel past the injured area of the cord up to the Sacral S4-5 spinal cord segments. Depending on the location and severity of damage, the symptoms vary, from numbness to paralysis, including bowel or bladder incontinence. Long term outcomes also range widely, from full recovery to permanent tetraplegia or paraplegia. Complications can include muscle atrophy, loss of voluntary motor control, spasticity, pressure sores, infections, and breathing problems.
Semen collection refers to the process of obtaining semen from human males or other animals with the use of various methods, for the purposes of artificial insemination, or medical study. Semen can be collected via masturbation, prostate massage, artificial vagina, penile vibratory stimulation (vibroejaculation) and electroejaculation. Semen can be collected from endangered species for cryopreservation of genetic resources.
Tonic vibration reflex is a sustained contraction of a muscle subjected to vibration. This reflex is caused by vibratory activation of muscle spindles — muscle receptors sensitive to stretch.
A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) or dorsal column stimulator (DCS) is a type of implantable neuromodulation device that is used to send electrical signals to select areas of the spinal cord for the treatment of certain pain conditions. SCS is a consideration for people who have a pain condition that has not responded to more conservative therapy. There are also spinal cord stimulators under research and development that could enable patients with spinal cord injury to walk again via epidural electrical stimulation (EES).
Anejaculation is the pathological inability to ejaculate despite an erection in males, with (orgasmic) or without (anorgasmic) orgasm.
Nocturnal penile tumescence is a spontaneous erection of the penis during sleep or when waking up. Along with nocturnal clitoral tumescence, it is also known as sleep-related erection, morning glory or morning wood. Men without physiological erectile dysfunction or severe depression experience nocturnal penile tumescence, usually three to five times during a period of sleep, typically during rapid eye movement sleep. Nocturnal penile tumescence is believed to contribute to penile health.
The frenulum of prepuce of penis, often known simply as the frenulum, is a highly erogenous elastic band of tissue under the glans penis that connects the foreskin to the vernal mucosa, and helps contract the foreskin over the glans. Along with the ridged bands at the tip of the foreskin, it is considered to be the most sensitive part of the penis to fine-touch.
Brown-Séquard syndrome is caused by damage to one half of the spinal cord, i.e. hemisection of the spinal cord resulting in paralysis and loss of proprioception on the same side as the injury or lesion, and loss of pain and temperature sensation on the opposite side as the lesion. It is named after physiologist Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard, who first described the condition in 1850.
The human penis is an external male intromittent organ that additionally serves as the urinal duct. The main parts are the root (radix); the body (corpus); and the epithelium of the penis including the shaft skin and the foreskin (prepuce) covering the glans penis. The body of the penis is made up of three columns of tissue: two corpora cavernosa on the dorsal side and corpus spongiosum between them on the ventral side. The human male urethra passes through the prostate gland, where it is joined by the ejaculatory duct, and then through the penis. The urethra traverses the corpus spongiosum, and its opening, the meatus, lies on the tip of the glans penis. It is a passage both for urination and ejaculation of semen
Pallesthesia, or vibratory sensation, is the ability to perceive vibration. This sensation, often conducted through skin and bone, is usually generated by mechanoreceptors such as Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel disk receptors, and tactile corpuscles. All of these receptors stimulate an action potential in afferent nerves found in various layers of the skin and body. The afferent neuron travels to the spinal column and then to the brain where the information is processed. Damage to the peripheral nervous system or central nervous system can result in a decline or loss of pallesthesia.
Ejaculation is the discharge of semen from the male reproductory tract as a result of an orgasm. It is the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential component of natural conception. In rare cases, ejaculation occurs because of prostatic disease. Ejaculation may also occur spontaneously during sleep. Anejaculation is the condition of being unable to ejaculate. Ejaculation is usually very pleasurable for men; dysejaculation is an ejaculation that is painful or uncomfortable. Retrograde ejaculation is the condition where semen travels backwards into the bladder rather than out the urethra.
When treating a person with a spinal cord injury, repairing the damage created by injury is the ultimate goal. By using a variety of treatments, greater improvements are achieved, and, therefore, treatment should not be limited to one method. Furthermore, increasing activity will increase his/her chances of recovery.
Although spinal cord injury (SCI) often causes sexual dysfunction, many people with SCI are able to have satisfying sex lives. Physical limitations acquired from SCI affect sexual function and sexuality in broader areas, which in turn has important effects on quality of life. Damage to the spinal cord impairs its ability to transmit messages between the brain and parts of the body below the level of the lesion. This results in lost or reduced sensation and muscle motion, and affects orgasm, erection, ejaculation, and vaginal lubrication. More indirect causes of sexual dysfunction include pain, weakness, and side effects of medications. Psycho-social causes include depression and altered self-image. Many people with SCI have satisfying sex lives, and many experience sexual arousal and orgasm. People with SCI employ a variety of adaptations to help carry on their sex lives healthily, by focusing on different areas of the body and types of sexual acts. Neural plasticity may account for increases in sensitivity in parts of the body that have not lost sensation, so people often find newly sensitive erotic areas of the skin in erogenous zones or near borders between areas of preserved and lost sensation.
Spinal cord injury research seeks new ways to cure or treat spinal cord injury in order to lessen the debilitating effects of the injury in the short or long term. There is no cure for SCI, and current treatments are mostly focused on spinal cord injury rehabilitation and management of the secondary effects of the condition. Two major areas of research include neuroprotection, ways to prevent damage to cells caused by biological processes that take place in the body after the insult, and neuroregeneration, regrowing or replacing damaged neural circuits.
Hot Octopuss is a London-based sex toy company. Founded in 2011 by Julia Margo and Adam Lewis, the first Hot Octopuss, Pulse, also known as the Guybrator, was released in September 2013. The male apparatuses oscillate to stimulate men. The PULSE range is highly popular and has been featured in Playboy, The Wall Street Journal, GQ Magazine, Men's Health and Cosmopolitan. Hot Octopuss products are available globally in over 50 countries.
A wand vibrator is a massaging device which is often also used as a vibrator and a sex toy. It consists of a rounded vibrating ball attached to a handle. The vibration is provided by an electric motor in the handle that rotates an unbalanced flywheel mounted either within the vibrating ball connected to the motor via a flexible coupling, or, less effectively, within the handle itself attached directly to the motor shaft. The Hitachi Magic Wand, available since 1968, is the best-known wand vibrator brand, but many other similar devices exist, including the Doxy wand vibrator made in Britain.
Sandra M. Garraway is a Canadian-American neuroscientist and assistant professor of physiology in the Department of Physiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Garraway is the director of the Emory Multiplex Immunoassay Core (EMIC) where she assists researchers from both academia and industry to perform, analyze, and interpret their multiplexed immunoassays. Garraway studies the neural mechanisms of spinal nociceptive pain after spinal cord injury and as a postdoctoral researcher she discovered roles for both BDNF and ERK2 in pain sensitization and developed novel siRNA technology to inhibit ERK2 as a treatment for pain.
Penile implants may be employed to treat erectile dysfunction or urinary troubles after a spinal cord injury.
Chet T. Moritz is an American neural engineer, neuroscientist, physiologist, and academic researcher. He is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and holds joint appointments in the School of Medicine departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Washington.
References
- ↑ Chong, W; Ibrahim, E; Aballa, T C; Lynne, C M; Brackett, N L (2017-05-30). "Comparison of three methods of penile vibratory stimulation for semen retrieval in men with spinal cord injury". Spinal Cord. 55 (10): 921–925. doi: 10.1038/sc.2017.60 . ISSN 1362-4393. PMID 28555663.
- ↑ Brackett, Nancy L.; Lynne, Charles M.; Ibrahim, Emad; Ohl, Dana A.; Sønksen, Jens (2010-02-16). "Treatment of infertility in men with spinal cord injury". Nature Reviews Urology. 7 (3): 162–172. doi:10.1038/nrurol.2010.7. ISSN 1759-4812. PMID 20157304. S2CID 20110581.
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