Implant Restores Paralyzed Man's Leg Movement 65
cylonlover writes "In a move that gives cautious hope to the millions of people suffering some form of paralysis, a team of researchers from UCLA, Caltech and the University of Louisville has given a man rendered paralyzed from the chest down after a hit-and-run accident in 2006 the ability to stand and take his first tentative steps in four years. The team used a stimulating electrode array implanted into the man's body to provide continual direct electrical stimulation to the lower part of the spinal cord that controls movement of the hips, knees, ankles and toes, to mimic the signals the brain usually sends to initiate movement (abstract)."
All the best (Score:2)
Re:All the best (Score:4, Interesting)
Even if it doesn't restore full mobility, I think this is a great advancement that allows a paralyzed patient to stave off or to recover from the muscle atrophy or blood clots caused by lack of motion that occurs after the accident.
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It wasn't clear to me from the article how much control he actually has over the mobility. It says instead of hooking the brain back up to the legs, they're just stimulating the nerves in that area to wake the legs back up, and then the legs sort of make decisions on their own in terms of standing or maybe walking to stay balanced on a moving treadmill.
So it would definitely be useful for keeping paralyzed legs fit, but I wonder what the equivalent would be for stimulating a paralyzed arm?
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The stimulation therefore doesn't induce movement, but taps into a network of spinal cord nerves that are capable of initiating movement on their own without the help of the brain, which then work together with cues from the legs to direct muscle movement.
Okay, so saying the legs make decisions on their own was somewhat of an oversimplification, but my point that the brain is not involved and so it's not clear how much practical control he has over mobility or what the equivalent would be for other limbs remains.
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Re:All the best (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, that's wrong. At least in cats. As proof they kept a cat's body alive, removed its brain, and put it on a treadmill. The cat was held up, but as the legs felt pressure on them, they started to run by themselves. Rather well, too, matching speed with the treadmill. The muscles and spinal cord basically play a huge role in balance and walking..it isn't 100% brain controlled.
Re:All the best (Score:5, Informative)
I heard an article about this on NPR this morning. He apparently has a fair amount of control and even feeling while the power is turned on. He talked about getting a shot in his lower back while the systems was powered up and being able to feel the pain, the pressure of the insertion, everything you'd expect a normal person to be able to feel. He joked about it being both bad and good, but you could tell he was really pleased.
The interesting thing is that they aren't, from what I understand, trying to bypass the damaged nerves, rather they're applying a continuous current to them, which seems to boost the natural ability of the nerves to receive signals. For lack of a better description (and assuming I understand what's going on, which is assuming a lot, even the doctors don't seem too clear on the details) the applied current allows the nerve signals to "jump" the cut in his nervous system.
Also for reasons I don't understand, they only use the system 2 hours or so a day, so for the majority of the time he's a normal paraplegic. That may explain why it's taking him so long to relearn things like walking and standing, though the article indicates that only gross movements may ever be possible so it could be that the signals just aren't strong enough still for fine motor control.
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The interesting thing is that they aren't, from what I understand, trying to bypass the damaged nerves, rather they're applying a continuous current to them, which seems to boost the natural ability of the nerves to receive signals. For lack of a better description (and assuming I understand what's going on, which is assuming a lot, even the doctors don't seem too clear on the details) the applied current allows the nerve signals to "jump" the cut in his nervous system. Also for reasons I don't understand, they only use the system 2 hours or so a day
My guess would be that since it sounds like they're using a type of amplifier and that the system is so new they don't what to further injure this person's nervous system by having too much voltage too long. By the sounds of it this person's set of issues is rare, so it's doubly important they do this 'velvet glove' style.
As well, I would like to parrot the 'keep up the good work'. I have a cousin who was in gymnastics when he was younger then in his 20s had a serious traffic accident and left him paralyse
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Or a paid shill.
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Wow.
He reminds me of the Scientologists.
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Yeah, strange postings from this one we have. I just used up my last mod point earlier, damn.
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Yeah seriously.
I've had back problems from time to time, mostly related to overstressed muscles. I've gone to a chiropractor for it, had therapeutic massage and spinal adjustments done, and it did a lot of good. Eliminated for weeks at a time a problem that a normal doctor would have hit with muscle relaxants and painkillers.
BUT, the first thing my chiropractor did was take X-rays, both to see the underlying problem and guide the course of treatment. And he was willing to point out that NO serious spinal in
Re:Happy for the man, yet disappointed. (Score:5, Interesting)
The man has a spinal cord injury. Not a spinal COLUMN injury(though he had that too). Spinal cords do not magically heal no matter what you do to them.
I really, really wish that you nutjobs would shut the hell up. Chiropractors are a godsend, for some injuries. I blew out a portion of my disc between t11 and t12 years ago. It caused all sorts of havoc and got to the point where I could very nearly no longer walk. Chiropractic care and a good regimen of exercises turned this around completely The pain had caused muscles to tense and throw all sorts of things out of place. The chiropractor got everything back into shape, and the back pain subsided a fair bit.
Heres the news flash: My disc is still blown. It did not magically heal, nor will it. An adjustment may allow space for some extra tissue to grow make the injury less painful, but thats about it.
The worst part is your post has a hint of truth, but heaped on it is a mountain of crackpot bullshit. You're giving chiropractors everywhere a bad name, and on behalf of those of us who know how much good they CAN do I say: Please, go crawl under a rock somewhere and stay there. Its people like you that mean a lot of folks can't get their chiropractic physiotherapy covered when it could potentially be the only thing that will get them real relief.
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Chiropractors are voodoo doctor wannabes, just like acupuncturists. They're glorified knuckle crackers.
The entire basis of chiropracty is essentially that any sort of illness is a result of something wrong with the nerves, ultimately leading to somewhere in the spine. Tinker with the spine, problem solved!
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The worst part is your post has a hint of truth, but heaped on it is a mountain of crackpot bullshit. You're giving chiropractors everywhere a bad name, and on behalf of those of us who know how much good they CAN do I say: Please, go crawl under a rock somewhere and stay there. Its people like you that mean a lot of folks can't get their chiropractic physiotherapy covered when it could potentially be the only thing that will get them real relief.
That "subluxations" cause every disease under the sun and can be cured by chiropractic is taught in most or all chiropractic schools, and is to them a normal belief.
There have been studies comparing registered massage therapists to chiropractors for back injury recovery. There was no appreciable difference in effect. Only one of them considers themselves a "doctor" though.
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No, thats a common misconception from what is for some reason a very very vocal minority. Though, I can only speak for canadian chiropractics on that score really.
Chiropractors here tend to understand that a massage therapist does do a lot of what they do. What they do however is far more targeted and they are trained to help restore function. Going to a chiropractor here will probably hurt like fucking hell the first few times at the very least, and won't improve much after that, however it will help a lot
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That's simply not fair to say without knowing more about his case. In effect, this is an application of the Jr.High School experiment of connecting a battery to a frog's leg to watch it jump. Without knowing the extent of the damage (which this article could never detail) it is literally irresponsible to assert a claim that alternative treatment could do a better job.
I believe chiropractic treatment has its purposes and ranks right up there with good nutrition and exercise as natural means of treating and
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It can be, it is just really difficult to do. Eating only meat would be no better. I am not a vegan or vegetarian, nor have ever been one intentionally nor longer than 48 hours.
Difficult? How? (Score:1)
Please explain how proper vegan diets are difficult.
Evidence, please. (Score:1)
I know about some stories, such as one where the parents fed their child soy milk and apple juice. That is obviously incompletely. So, please cite your sources. Tell us which story, tell us what the mother was eating, and then tell us what nutrients the nursing child could not get from the breast milk. Meanwhile, please prove that your isolated case applies generally to everyone eating plant-based diets.
C'mon, scientists... (Score:5, Funny)
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Thats awesome! (Score:3)
Keep it up!
UCLA.
Caltech.
University of Louisiana.
Reports of American research demise seem to be premature (looking at the names the team looks multinational - hard to tell just by a name these days).
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If you haven't seen it before, you should add Futurity [futurity.org] to your web reading rotation. It is a website dedicated to news stories about American university research, and (no surprise) headlines today with this mobility story.
Let me be the first to say (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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It's a part of your brain. Like all nerves, your brain runs throughout your entire body. You cut off a piece of your brain, it still functions, but without the connections it had in the past.
Re:Key points for me (Score:4, Interesting)
Right. But there's nothing to say that a properly designed shunt couldn't fix or bridge the gap (or we re-wire directly form the break to the muscles themselves). Most of what happens in your body (legs as an example) is controlled by a few specific groups of muscles, but it's not like we need to reconnect a thousand synthetic nerves to muscles and so on. It's only a few dozen. Once they are reconnected, recovery should be extremely quick.
In a decade, spinal injuries will be a problem and no longer a disaster.
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Erm, there will be several thousand axons bundled up in each of those 'only a few dozen' nerves that you reckon would be a doddle to reconnect. And getting the -motor neurones wired up is only part of achieving a full recovery - you need the afferents from proprioceptors for any kind of coordinated movement, correct alpha-gamma coactivation for proper functioning of muscle spindles, etc. Its not such a simple rewiring job as it seems...
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I also know someone with spina bifida who would benefit from this, if it were possible. Of course, reading about the physical condition and special circumstances of the research volunteer (having feeling below the injury) suggests that this may not be possible.
I'm not particularly optimistic either, spina bifida can come with very heavy damage. However, I read more and more about repairs on the nerve system, artificial components and improvements in the signal reception. Maybe it can be fixed in a decade or two.
Video (Score:1)
Nice workaround (Score:2)
zombies (Score:2)
You mean it's not enough to shot zombies in the head?
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Actually the movie repeatedly states that the hero's injuries can be treated, but he can't afford it. One of the reason he agrees to act as a spy for the Colonel in the first place is a promise to get him back to Earth for treatment on company expense. It's one of the more important sub-plots of the movie and explains most of his early motivations.
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