Spinal cord injury care

As part of the comprehensive programming we offer at Allina Health, our RN care coordination and social work services follow patients from admission to inpatient rehabilitation through the first year, post-injury, to ensure all opportunities for ongoing recovery are explored. With a team-based approach to patient-centered care, Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute provides a continuum for spinal cord injury rehabilitation that is unmatched elsewhere in the region.

The team is led by medical director James Spendley, DO and Amanda DeRasmi, DO. Both providers are board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians who are also specialty board-certified in spinal cord injury rehabilitation medicine.

After a spinal cord injury, you may experience a wide range of symptoms, from weakness and loss of muscle function to loss of sensation, breathing problems and difficulty controlling your bowel and bladder. The physical and emotional challenges of the illness can feel overwhelming. If you or a loved one has experienced a spinal cord injury, rehabilitation and specialized treatment are key to getting back to leading a productive, independent life. Our comprehensive rehabilitation, education and support can help you and your family begin to cope, find hope and thrive.

Our comprehensive outpatient programs focus on your continued recovery, stimulating neurologic recovery to help you learn new skills and managing symptoms to improve your day-to-day function and regain as much independence as possible. A referral from a provider is needed for most services.

To schedule an initial therapy appointment, call 612-262-7900.

To schedule an outpatient PM&R (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) appointment, call 612-863-4495.

Additional specialty services are available for inpatient, outpatient and community settings – helping you address your individual needs. These include:

• Rehabilitation psychology services | Allina Health
• Pain management
• Wound Clinic
• Specialty wheelchair and equipment clinics
• Spasticity management including Baclofen pump management

A wide range of community services are available to help you get back to living, working and playing as independently as possible. These include:

• Activity Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE)
• Adapted Sports and Recreation
• Assistive Technology 
• Drivers Assessment and Training
• Fitness, wellness and pool services 
• Community Resources and Support Services and Housing Stabilization services
• Vocational Services

We have dedicated spinal cord injury RN Care Coordinators and Social Workers for both inpatient and outpatient services, ensuring that all questions are answered and all patient’s needs are being met as they recover from their spinal cord injury.

Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute is part of the Minnesota Regional SCI Model System of Care

Minnesota Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems.

This is one of 14 U.S. spinal cord model systems of care that received 5-year research funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. 

The collaboration represents an extraordinary achievement for MN rehabilitation researchers and an important opportunity to expand innovation and new knowledge development in the service of people with SCI who live in MN, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute is committed to advancing the treatment and outcomes of people with spinal cord injury through research. We are one of six national Community Fitness and Wellness Centers of the Neuro Recovery Network (NRN) and the only center in Minnesota.  The Centers use standardized, activity-based fitness and wellness equipment and techniques with care based on current scientific and clinical evidence.