Skip to main content

TRAILS: Technology Recreation Access Independence Lifestyle Sports

Adaptive Sports: Redefining Wholeness & an Active, Healthy Lifestyle

Already a TRAILS Participant?

Learn how to rent equipment and reserve a class

Recreation

Participants can stay active through indoor spinning, hand cycling, kayaking, sailing, target shooting, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, swimming, and wheelchair tennis. TRAILS is designed to prepare individuals of all ability levels to engage in active living through recreational experiences. These opportunities and resources will help bridge the gap between rehabilitation and returning to the community.

Spinal Cord Injury Forum

The Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Forum is an six-week educational program for individuals with spinal cord injury, personal care providers, family, and health care professionals. The focus is on physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual wellness. Topics include: advocacy, health promotion, nutrition, psychosocial issues, sexuality, assistive technology, transportation, recreation, women's wellness, aging, and disability.

Spinal Cord Injury Wellness

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Wellness is an innovative component that provides individuals with spinal cord injury an opportunity to participate in a comprehensive wellness program that includes exercise/conditioning, weight management, nutritional consultation, massage, upper extremity preservation, health risk management, yoga, circuit resistance training, driving simulation, and brain gym.

This unique opportunity eliminates barriers for participation, provides access to fully accessible equipment, knowledgeable and experienced supervision, financial accessibility, and socialization.

TRAIL Talk is a monthly continuation of the SCI Forum and meets monthly to discuss a variety of topics.

Virtual Outreach

One of the greatest challenges for spinal cord injury care is the barrier of distance between rural areas and the hospital. Virtual outreach consists of web-based and telemedicine/telehealth links that enable expanded medical and outreach consultation and education services to all parts of the region.

Volunteer Support

In collaboration with University of Utah Health's Volunteer Services, TRAILS recruits volunteers who are interested in working with this specific population. Individuals have an opportunity to become a spinal cord injury (SCI) volunteer specialist through extended training.

Research 

TRAILS, in collaboration with the College of Health Sciences and the College of Health, will provide opportunities to advance excellence in recreation focused research. Current research is focused on increasing active lifestyles and decreasing secondary health conditions.

Paralympian & Program Administrator, Tanja Kari, Talks About TRAILS Program on Good Things Utah

Picture of Dani Aravich, paralympic athlete and TRAILS participant

Meet Our TRAILS Participant

Para Nordic skiers and TRAILS participants, Dani Aravich and Drew Shea, trained hard to earn themselves spots on Team U.S.A. for the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Games. Both of them were fairly new to the Para Nordic skiing world when they fell in love with the sport. With the help of training on Team Soldier Hollow and coaching from Tanja Kari, TRAILS program director, Aravich and Shea were able to learn techniques and skills that take most athletes years to develop.

Heard on the Radio

Adaptive Sports Just Got Easier With Infusion Of Bio Technology

Jeffrey Rosenbluth, MD, talks about biotech innovations so those with complex physical disabilities, namely quadriplegics, can participate in skiing and watersports. The program's technology features the TetraSki and the TetraCraft. Courtesy of KPCW Radio

The TetraSki: Using Technology To Enable Quadriplegics To Ski

Jeffrey Rosenbluth, MD, talks about the TetraSki which allows quadriplegics to ski by using devices built into the device that turn the skis by putting them on edge. He is the founder of The Tetradapt Initiative which delivers the latest technology for adaptive sports and recreation to people living with spinal cord injuries or disease. Courtesy of KPCW Radio

Hear From Our Patients & Specialists