Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published : September 25, 2018 6:55 PM IST
This device has helped paraplegics to walk again © Shutterstock
An intense rehabilitation program using a device that sends electricity down the spine has made three paraplegic patients walk again, showed two different studies. These studies were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
The reason why this is important is because the patients mind or thoughts was able to drive the movements in the legs, reportedly said Kendall Lee, a neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who co-led one of the new studies.
An electrode was first implanted into the patient's epidural space which is the covering of the spinal cord just beneath his injury. The voltage used by the apparatus for stimulating the nervous tissue in the spinal cord was controlled by a handheld device. Earlier, the researchers had shown how the Epidural Electrical Stimulation (EES) allowed the patient to stand and make stepping motions while lying down or suspended from an apparatus supporting his body weight, highlighted a recent media report.
By combining EES with specific movement training, the researchers began a rehab program to restore the patient's ability to stand and walk independently. Within a year's time and after 100 visits to the clinic, the researchers optimised the voltage required for to let him move his legs and the patient successfully took over 300 steps on his own. Eventually he covered 102 yards, as big as a football field.
