A brain-to-computer echnology that can translate thoughts into leg movements has enab ed a man paralysed from the waist down by a spinal cord injury to become the first such patient to walk without the use of robotics, doctors n Southern California reported on Wednesday. The slow, halting first steps of the 28-year-old paraplegic were documented in a preliminary study published in the British-based Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, along with a YouTube video.
The feat was accomplished using a system allowing the brain o bypass the injured spinal cord and instead send messages through a computer algorithm to elec rodes placed around the patient's knees to trigger controlled eg muscle movements.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, say the outcome marks a promising but incremental achievement in the development of brain-computer interfaces that may one day help stroke and spinal injury victims regain some mobility . Dr An Do, a study co-author, said clinical applications were many years away .Results of the UC Irvine research still need to be replicated in other pa ients and greatly refined. Nevertheless, the study proved it possible "to restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury ," said biomedical engineer Zoran Nenadic, who led the research. The steps taken a year ago by the experiment's subject, former graduate student Adam Fritz, who injured his back in a motorcycle accident, appear modest as seen in the video.
The feat was accomplished using a system allowing the brain o bypass the injured spinal cord and instead send messages through a computer algorithm to elec rodes placed around the patient's knees to trigger controlled eg muscle movements.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, say the outcome marks a promising but incremental achievement in the development of brain-computer interfaces that may one day help stroke and spinal injury victims regain some mobility . Dr An Do, a study co-author, said clinical applications were many years away .Results of the UC Irvine research still need to be replicated in other pa ients and greatly refined. Nevertheless, the study proved it possible "to restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury ," said biomedical engineer Zoran Nenadic, who led the research. The steps taken a year ago by the experiment's subject, former graduate student Adam Fritz, who injured his back in a motorcycle accident, appear modest as seen in the video.
