Paraplegic Man Stands and Moves Legs Voluntarily After New Treatment

A team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the University of Louisville have used a stimulating electrode array to assist a paralyzed man to stand, step on a treadmill with assistance, and, over time, to regain voluntary movements of his limbs. The electrical signals provided by the array, the researchers have found, stimulate the spinal cord's own neural network so that it can use the sensory input derived from the legs to direct muscle and joint movements.

Rather than bypassing the man's nervous system to directly stimulate the leg muscles, this approach takes advantage of the inherent control circuitry in the lower spinal cord (below the level of the injury) to control standing and stepping motions. The study is published May 19 in the British medical journal The Lancet.

wow, this is some awesome news for so many people

The scientists aren't yet fully sure how these functions were regained -- or, indeed, how the control of voluntary function was returned through the procedure. "Somehow, stimulation by the electrodes may have reactivated connections that were dormant or stimulated the growth of new connections," Burdick says. Almost certainly, reorganization of the neural pathways occurred below and perhaps also above the site of injury.

Is this helping the body to find a new pathway, bypassing the severed spinal cord? I really have no idea but fascinating none the less.

source

reply to post by iforget


This is why i still love this planet , people keep telling me that "might is right", "they are the enemy".. blah blah blah...
but for every person who wants to control someone or make money for moneys sake.
there is a group of people here to help.
S+F, maybe more people need to see that we are all in this together and instead of putting people in wheelchairs from mines and bombs, we can actually help them walk...
This is true power, power to change a life for the better, not destroy one..

reply to post by iforget


is there a link to the story?

reply to post by sprocket2cog


nice point, my friend. I often think that there is a lot less hate in this world than there is hyped to be. I know it is there to some degree I just think it is amped up for advantage by those who need control

reply to post by i am just saying


yes sorry I had forgotten to add it but it is in there now Thanks

I noticed the study was paid for by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Also noticed the method was found using animal research. Necessary evil?

reply to post by iforget


Yes i totally agree with you, the hate that we see in the media is just the smoke an mirrors designed to keep us living in fear of ourselves so that others can feel better about how much money or power they think they have..
There is so many great projects and ideas out there.
I remeber when the news actually went out of the studio and tried to find good news story's.. now they all just rehash each others story's, play random youtube videos they think are funny, and post untruths from blogs with out normally retracting it when its found out to be wrong..
But i digress, We can make this a better place for everyone, i just hope theres someone left when the smoke clears.

reply to post by Schkeptick


Excellent points I hate to argue pro animal research I often wish they would use violent criminals. I just don't know if it is one of those things that can have a blanket response where it is always wrong but then it does make me very sick to think of some of the things that have been done in the name of science. I most strongly feel that with our society and world in the shape it is in that maybe as a species we need to learn to care for our own children before we will be able to care for all the earth's children.

Originally posted by Schkeptick
I noticed the study was paid for by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Also noticed the method was found using animal research. Necessary evil?

The way we have to come up with new medical techniques is still flawed, yes at this point in time it it a necessary evil, but as you know animal research has improved a lot since the early days,(cutting heads of ive dogs to transplant etc) and before that there was research on humans.. i dont think its right. but until we can create analogues and software to fully replace testing it will go on.
but there is people forging ahead to do this everyday.
new drug testing software is used to test for adverse effects for example, a 16 year old found a new combination of drugs to treat MS using this software recently.
and scientists are working on an artificial skin to test cosmetics to replace animals..
and this is just two examples, there is many more.
we have a long way to go, but at least some are trying to get it right