BREATHE at the Center for Respiratory Research and Rehabilitation hosted the second Neurotherapeutic Intermittent Hypoxia Workshop, with over 50 attendees from around the world. Participants discussed the therapeutic potential of intermittent hypoxia to enhance traditional rehabilitation in diverse motor (walking, hand/arm, swallowing, breathing), sensory, autonomic and cognitive neural systems. Talks were presented suggesting efficacy in spinal cord injury (arms, legs/walking and breathing), as well as multiple sclerosis, ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2016, the group originally met to create “A ‘Road Map’ to clinical translation: Therapeutic intermittent hypoxia and recovery of motor function with chronic incomplete SCI.” The 2020 workshop was held again at the One Ocean Resort & Spa in Jacksonville Beach, and updated/expanded the “Road Map” by considering recent advances and potential therapeutic applications beyond spinal cord injury.
The workshop would not have been such a success if it wasn’t for the support and funding from the BREATHE/CRRR, UF McKnight Brain Institute, UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, UF Department of Physical Therapy, Wings for Life, Hypoxico, and CWE.