REAL LIFE NEWS: PARALYSED PATIENT WALKS AGAIN
by Hazed
An amazing medical breakthrough has allowed patients with spinal cord injuries to use an exoskeleton which is linked to their brains to move their legs. One paralysed man was even able to walk using two crutches.
The Walk Again Project is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its intention was to allow those paralysed by spinal cord injuries to move about by controlling an exoskeleton which they control with their thoughts.
What’s more surprising is that during the training to use the exoskeleton, the eight patients in the project started to regain feeling and movement below the site of the spine injury.
Previously, it was thought that the nerves had been completely severed, but now researchers believe that a few nerves survived, and the training has reactivated them by rewiring circuits in the brain.
The patients’ status has been upgraded from total paralysis to partial paralysis – and they continue to improve.
The researchers see this as an exciting milestone in helping paraplegics.
