Researchers have helped four paralyzed men to regain movement in their legs and feet using electric shocks. The study has been hailed as a milestone and could pave the way for groundbreaking treatments for paralysis patients.
Researchers at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, are
pioneering a new technique to treat paralysis. In a study
published in UK science magazine the Brain, they showed that four
men regained limited ability to move their legs and feet after an
electric device was implanted in their spines.
The scientists behind the study have hailed the research as a
“milestone,” but stress they have not found a “miracle
cure” for paralysis.
The results show that there is hope for people with a serious
spinal cord injury, said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part
of the National Institutes of Health, to Reuters.
"The big message here is that people with spinal cord injury
of the type these men had no longer need to think they have a
lifelong sentence of paralysis," he said. "They can
achieve some level of voluntary function.”
The research centers around the success story of college baseball
star Rob Summers, who was paralyzed from the neck down after a
hit-and-run car accident in 2006. In 2009, Summers underwent a
procedure to implant a small device that admits electrical pulses
in his spine. Just three days after the operation he was able to
stand and walk supported on a treadmill.
The spinal cord acts like the body’s messaging system, carrying
commands from the brain to different parts of the body. If the
cord is damaged, it makes it more difficult for those messages to
get through. The electrical pulses from the implant stimulate the
spinal column and make it more receptive to messages from the
brain.
Researchers at Louisville repeated the procedure with three other
paralysis patients who have regained partial movement. They were
able to wiggle their toes, lift their legs and stand very
briefly, but still have to use wheelchairs to get around.
"Now that spinal stimulation has been successful in four out
of four patients, there is evidence to suggest that a large
cohort of individuals, previously with little realistic hope of
any meaningful recovery from spinal cord injury, may benefit from
this,” said Pettigrew.
One of the three men who received an implant, Dustin Shillcox,
said the procedure has given him more confidence and he feels
more comfortable going out.
“It was very exciting and emotional,” said Shillcox told the
Detroit News. “It brought me a lot of hope.”
The Louisville researchers say that with advances in technology
for the electric implants may lead to non-invasive electrical
stimulators that will deliver pulses through the skin. Rival
studies into potential cures for paralysis also include research
into stem cells.