Spinal Implant Helps Three Paralyzed Men Walk Again (bbc.com) 25
Doctors in Switzerland have used an electrical device to help three paralyzed men walk again. The device was inserted around the men's spines to boost the signals from their brains to their legs. The study has been published in the journal Nature. The BBC reports: The first patient to be treated was 30-year-old Swiss man David M'zee, who suffered a severe spinal injury seven years ago in a sporting accident. David's doctor said he would never walk again. However, thanks to an electrical implant developed by a team at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), he can walk more than half a mile with the implant turned on. Two other men have also managed to walk again, to varying degrees. Gertan Oskan, a 35-year-old engineer from the Netherlands, was knocked over by a car seven years ago. His doctors told him on his birthday that he would be paralyzed for life. He is now beginning to regain some movement. Sebastian Tobler, a 48-year-old man from Germany, was a keen cyclist who loved being out in the countryside before he was knocked off his bike. Now he's back on a specially adapted bike that is powered mostly by his hands -- but also partly by his legs.
Sometimes it is nice... (Score:5, Insightful)
to read some positive news....
Original hipster. (Score:5, Funny)
Pff... the J-man healed paralyzed men before it was cool. ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Does it go up to 11? (Score:3)
Quarter of a mile (Score:3)
> he can walk more than half a mile with the implant turned on.
Let's hope he remembered to turn back after a quarter of a mile.
Re: (Score:2)
Heh! My GF once told me about a walk she took with her sister. At the time my GF was more used to walking than her sister, and the sister wanted to walk father, and the GF was saying "You realize we have to walk back too?", but the sister didn't listen (must run in the family ;) ) Afterward, the sister was whining, "I don't ever want to walk again!".
Next question: Electrode endurance (Score:3)
Because that has been the killer for all kinds of implants interfacing nerves so far.
It is however good to know that if electrode endurance gets solved, there will be some really useful things that will become viable outside of limited experiments.
Re: (Score:2)
They did try using electrodes to stimulate muscles directly back in the 1980's. But all those wires started to corrode in the saline environment of the human body, leading to deep infections and radical surgery.
isn't this more promising? (Score:1)
Paralysed man walks again after cell transplant [bbc.com]
Awesome :) (Score:2)
Remarkable (Score:2)
I watched this report last night and it was a really remarkable step, no pun intended. It was very clear from what the researchers were saying that this is very much just the beginning. That further development and refinement of both the medicine technology would be possible. Miniaturisation, increased sensitivity of the equipment, earlier intervention were all postulated as likely productive avenues of improvement.
One implant helps three men? (Score:1)
Wow, one electrical device helped three men? Which one of them did they put it into, and how did it help the other two?
One device was implanted into all three men? Are they now all linked together as one six-legged, six-armed, three-headed man?
The correct headline is Spinal Implants Help Three Paralyzed Men Walk Again. HTH, HAND!
More info... (Score:1)