First Man Paralyzed Below Waist To Walk Again Using Knee Electrodes And Brain Power

What a massive breakthrough! Science, as well as religious miracles enabled a man paralysed below the waist to walk again, according to Metro.

It was a big step forward in treating a man who was paralysed below the waist. This was due to a device that sent electrical activity from the brain to his knees.

Five years ago, he had an accident that damaged his spinal cord and blocked nerve impulses between his brain and legs. He was told that he may never be able to walk again.

Hence, researchers fit him first with a cap monitoring electrical signals around the rain and collecting them "as a computer-controlled electroencephalogram". They then applied electrodes to his knees that could receive the signals.

The man's body was supported by a body sling and he then walked 3.66 metres for the first time that a spinal injury-caused paraplegic could take control of his brain and legs.

"We have demonstrated that a person with paraplegia, or the inability to walk, due to spinal cord injury was able to walk over ground by utilizing a brain-controlled, leg-muscle stimulator system," said Zoran Nenadic of the University of California, Irvine.

With his team, he first trained the patient on a virtual reality system and then took him forward to using his own leg muscles for simulated walking, with his feet supported 5 cms above the course.

Finally, he was only partially supported to prevent falling, even as he walked just for three-and-a-half metres.

"This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that it is possible to reconnect the brain and the muscle through a technology that bypasses the spinal cord injury," explained Zoran Nenadic.

"It also shows that the brain signals that underlie the intentions to walk are still present in individuals years after an injury," he added.