Fighting Paralysis With Electricity 56
the_newsbeagle writes "In spinal cord injuries, the brain's commands can't reach the lower body — so in a ground-breaking experiment at the University of Louisville, researchers are providing artificial commands via electrodes implanted in the spine. The first paralyzed people to try out the tech have already been able to stand on their own, and have regained some bowel and sexual function. A video that accompanies the article also shows paralyzed rats that were able to walk again with this kind of electrical stimulation."
So they are moving up the wiring eh? (Score:4, Interesting)
In crude ways we've been able to do this for decades. I've seen video a guy who was unable to move from the chest down climb stairs using his own legs. It was from back in the 80's. Wasn't capable of any kind of fine motor control and it would be easy to knock him over, but between the braces and the electrodes that where implanted it worked. I guess they are able to move up the circuit to the spine and implant electrodes there? So? How's this help very much?
Now if you can transfer signals from above the damaged spine to below, THAT would be something to see.
Proud to see stuff like this... (Score:5, Interesting)
Kind of off-topic but I love seeing stuff like this hit the news. I do IT work at Medtronic. Nothing related to the devices but rather supporting the software that the engineers, scientists, physicians, designers and factory workers use to make these devices. Its an interesting feeling that in the end my work is a little tiny piece of making stuff like this happen. Morally and emotionally I feel great going to a job at a company like this. Here a device like this is helping this man stand and eventually walk again! My prior jobs were all IT jobs in really dismal, "selfish" industries - banking, credit cards, health insurance. Nothing I did helped make the world a better place. The work I did made a CEO richer and that was about it. The companies were built on "How can we cheapen this so we make more money on it." The reason I mention this is I see a lot of IT people who go to their job and feel something missing or don't feel like they contribute to the greater good. I felt that same way for a long time. Then by luck I got in there. I think a lot of us have a moral, emotional, spiritual (or all of the above) compass and this is the kind of stuff that fulfills that.
Re:Proud to see stuff like this... (Score:4, Interesting)
Glad you work at Medtronic. Glad I saw this article.
My best friend became a paraplegic last year. He's my age so it really struck home. I was thrilled when he asked me last weekend to write him a program for Android to help out with his daily habits. That program will have more meaning to me than any other program I've written. I was so excited after talking with him that I woke up at 3 AM the next morning and wrote semi-formal requirements for the program that he could approve. It may take me a while to successfully squeeze in the required time to learn Android programming (I've never done it before) and the time to write and debug the actual program, but I'm determined to do it. (What he wants requires a little tricky programming, but it's simple enough. And yes, of course it will be open source and I'll publish the code.)
Keep up the good work. I'm hoping to work for a company that gives me fulfillment soon too. (It's a goal.)