Paralyzed Man Back on his Feet (part 1)

Medical

Paralyzed Man Back on his Feet (part 1)

Previous

Contents

Next

Andrew Whales

One of the consequences of being in an accident that will damage you spinal column is the fact that it would disable you from walking on you feet for the rest of your life. Chances are you'll be wheel chair bound and will limit you mobility. There are sprouting technologies that aims to give the paralyzed the ability to walk on their own again like robotic limbs or exoskeletons but such technologies is very far from being a reality. In the United States alone there are around 250,000 individuals living with spinal cord injuries were vehicular related accidents is main cause

For the very first time, a paralyzed man walked unaided. Rob Summers(a baseball champ) was hit by a speeding car three years ago and doctors told that he could never walk again. Despite being unable to use his brain to move his limbs, he can stand and walk on his own.

This is no miracle, it's thank to the joint effort of the researchers from the UCLA, California Institute of Technology and University of Louisville. They used electrode array to stimulate the spinal cord's own neural network. There is enough control circuitry in the lower spinal cord which is just below the level of Summer's injury, enough for standing and stepping motions.

Earlier research by the team suggest that animals with spinal cord injuries could stand and take coordinated steps while being stimulated epidurally or in the space above the dura, which is the outermost membrane that cover the brain and spinal cord.

Professor of mechanical engineering and bioengineering at Caltech, Joel Burdick says that high density epidural spinal stimulation, which is done by implant sheet -like array of electrode that will stimulated neurons and stimulate the signal from above and replace then and get the nerves of motion.

Summers spend two years of training sessions, hundreds of them which therapist suspend him in a harness over a moving treadmill while they move his legs in a stepping motion. All of these didn't have any essential effect to his condition.

You can talk about... Paralyzed Man Back on his Feet (part 1)

Tags: • mobility • walking • spinal • accident • damage • consequences • paralyzed • wheel chair • mechanical engineering •

• Paralyzed Man Back on his Feet (part 2) (medical advancements)
• Staying Active While You Recover from an Injury (injuries)

Previous

Contents

Next

• <a href="http://article-library.medical-buynow.com">Medical</a>
• <a href="http://article-library.medical-buynow.com/medical_advancements">Paralyzed Man Back on his Feet (part 1) (medical advancements); Medical </a>

Privacy & DMCA Policy -- Sitemap
medical advancements Paralyzed Man Back on his Feet (part 1)