ABOVE: Study participant David Mzee, who is 28 years old and was paralyzed in a sports accident in 2010, takes steps assisted by patterned epidural electrical stimulation and a body weight harness.
JEAN-BAPTISTE MIGNARDOT
Electrically stimulating the neurons in the spinal cord in a pattern that recapitulates the brain’s control of walking has helped three men with spinal cord injuries take steps after years of being wheelchair-bound, according to a study published today (October 31) in Nature.
In September, two other research teams detailed their use of continuous epidural electrical stimulation and physical therapy to help three patients walk years after paralysis in the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine. Taken together, the three studies reveal the previously untested capacity of the human spinal cord to recover from trauma.
“One misunderstanding about spinal cord injury is that . . . the whole spinal cord is devastated. Really, it’s just ...
