Electrical Implant Allows Paralyzed Man to Stand and Walk (video) | Singularity Hub

Incredible ,and amazing good news I wanted to share enjoy!)-figgdimension


A new therapy that stimulates the spinal cord directly allowed Rob Summers to walk again for the first time in 5 years.

In 2006, Rob Summers was the victim of a hit-and-run. The accident left him completely paralyzed from the chest down–unable, even, to wiggle his toes. But just weeks after beginning a new cutting edge therapy in which researchers electrically stimulated his spinal cord Summers was able to stand on his own, move his hips, knees, ankles and toes, and make stepping motions on a treadmill.

Summers’ long road to betterment began in October of 2007. Over the next 26 months he received 170 training sessions in which he was suspended over a treadmill by a harness while researchers manually moved his legs and feet. The physical therapy was not effective. During the course of 108 hours of step training and 54 hours of stand training, electrodes placed in Summers’ leg muscles showed no electrical activity related to the trained movements.

After the training failed, researchers attempted a cutting edge procedure to surgically implant an epidural electrode array over the lumbosacral segments of Summers’ spinal cord. The training sessions resumed, this time while injecting direct electrical current.

It was a breakthrough in rehabilitation therapy.

In the first weeks after surgery Summers could stand on his own, providing the initial lift himself. He can remain standing up to four minutes at a time, and up to an hour with occasional help. After a few months he was able to move his hips, bend his knees, ankles and toes. Today, with the aid of a harness and an occasional helping hand, he can lift and move his feet to make stepping motions on a treadmill.

The science team responsible for Summers’ incredible improvement was led by Susan Harkema at the University of Louisville and included researchers from UCLA and the California Institute of Technology. Recently published in The Lancet, the science behind Summers’ phenomenal progress takes advantage of the “smart” circuitry of the spinal cord. Kind of like being on autopilot, it controls our leg movements enough so that we can walk without thinking about it. We’re able to take a stroll through the woods and talk to our friend without the need to plan around every branch or rock. The spinal cord circuitry is so good at its job it doesn’t need input from the brain. It’s precisely how chickens are able to run with their heads cut off.(more at source and links...:0 )