Epidural Electrical Stimulation Allows 4 Paraplegic Men To Voluntarily Move Their Legs
Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - 01:20
in Health & Medicine
Four young men who have been paralyzed for years achieved groundbreaking progress — moving their legs. Writing in the journal Brain, the researchers from the University of Louisville, UCLA and the Pavlov Institute of Physiology say the breakthrough is a result of epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. All four participants were classified as suffering from chronic, motor complete spinal cord injuries and were unable to move their lower extremities prior to the implantation of an epidural stimulator. The stimulator delivers a continuous electrical current to the participants' lower spinal cords, mimicking signals the brain normally transmits to initiate movement. read more