Spinal Stimulation Reactivates Paralyzed Limbs

April 8, 2014

Image Caption: Kent Stephenson, the second person to undergo epidural stimulation of the spinal cord, voluntarily raises his leg while stimulated at the Human Locomotion Research Center laboratory, a part of the University of Louisville's Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Frazier Rehab Institute, Louisville, Kentucky. Credit: Photo courtesy of the University of Louisville

[ Watch the Video: Voluntary Training With Spinal Stimulation ]

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

A preliminary study from National Institutes of Health has found that people with paraplegia were able to voluntarily move previously paralyzed toes, ankles and knees while receiving electrical stimulation to the spinal cord.

The study team, who published their results in the journal Brain on Tuesday, said their discovery offers new hope to individuals who have been coping with paralysis for years.

When we first learned that a patient had regained voluntary control as a result of spinal stimulation, we were cautiously optimistic, said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at NIH. Now that spinal stimulation has been successful in 4 out of 4 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 intervention.

The new research builds on a May 2011 study published in the journal The Lancet that examined the effects of epidural stimulation on Rob Summers of Portland, Ore., who recovered some motor function in response to the treatment. Summers treatment involved implanting a 16-electrode array on his spinal cord. He also underwent daily training to help him to either stand or walk. During these sessions, the array sent electrical pulses to his spinal cord just below his injury.

The new study involved three more patients with paralysis two with total motor and sensory paralysis, and one like Summers, with motor paralysis but able to experience sensation below his injury. After just a few days of stimulation, all three patients reestablished limited voluntary control of previously paralyzed body parts.

The first person implanted after Summers could not move or experience any sensation below his injury.

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Spinal Stimulation Reactivates Paralyzed Limbs