Scientists hail pivotal step in treatment of paralysis
Paralysed patients are walking again after scientists coaxed undamaged nerves into taking over leg movements in a world’s first that offers new hope for disabled people.
Jered Chinnock, 29, of Wisconsin, was left unable to move or feel anything below the middle of his torso after damaging his spinal cord when he was flung from his snowmobile while riding with friends in 2013.
But in a groundbreaking technique that combines electronic spinal cord stimulation and physical therapy, Chinnock is now standing up and taking steps with just the assistance of a walking frame and gentle support from his physiotherapist.
‘‘What this is teaching us is that those networks of neurons below a spinal cord injury still can function after paralysis,’’ said Dr Kendall Lee, neurosurgeon and director of Mayo Clinic’s Neural Engineering Laboratories. ‘‘The reason this is important is because the patient’s own mind and thoughts were able to drive the movement in his legs.’’ In the study, which began in 2016, Chinnock participated in 22 weeks of physical therapy and then had an electrode surgically implanted by Lee.
In the first week after surgery, he was attached to a harness to lower his risk of falling and to provide upper body balance.
By week 25 after the operation he no longer needed a harness, and by the end of the study period, after 43 weeks, Chinnock had learnt how to use his entire body to transfer weight, maintain balance and propel forward, requiring just verbal cues and glances at his legs.