Paralysed man walks with the help of brain implant
The HinduA 40-year-old man, paralysed since 2011, can now stand and walk thanks to a device implanted in his brain that can read his ‘thoughts’ and instruct his spine to move the muscles in his legs. For Mr. Oskam, the new surgery was an upgrade from the previous trial where a system recreated the repeated motion of walking by sending signals from a computer to his spinal cord. It translated the thoughts of Mr. Oskam into signals for the spinal cord and stimulated the muscles needed to re-establish leg movements voluntarily. “What we’ve been able to do is re-establish communication between the brain and the region of the spinal cord that controls leg movement with a digital bridge,” Prof. Grégoire Courtine, one of the lead researchers in the study, was quoted as saying by The Guardian. The researchers also think that the wireless digital bridge will help stroke patients and paralysed people with motor functions such as moving arms and legs, walking and controlling other bodily functions, which are often associated with spinal injury such as the bladder.
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