Paralyzed no more
Three people whose legs were paralyzed for years can stand and take steps again thanks to an electrical implant that zaps the injured spinal cord.
WASHINGTON — Three people whose legs were paralyzed for years can stand and take steps again thanks to an electrical implant that zaps the injured spinal cord — along with months of intense rehab, researchers reported Monday.
The milestone, reported by two teams of scientists working separately, is not a cure. The patients walk only with assistance — holding onto a rolling walker or with other help to keep their balance. Switch off the spinal stimulator and they no longer can voluntarily move their legs.
But during one physical therapy session at the Mayo Clinic, 29-year-old Jered Chinnock moved back and forth enough to cover about the length of a football field.
“The walking side of it isn’t something where I just leave my wheelchair behind and away I go,” said Chinnock, of Tomah, Wis. But, “there is the hopeful side of, maybe I’ll gain that — where I can leave the wheelchair behind, even if it is to walk to the refrigerator.”
The work is part of a quest to help people with spinal cord injuries regain function, and specialists say while it only has been attempted in a few people, it is a promising approach that needs more study.
With the new approach, the three patients are taking steps under their own power — intentionally moving, according to the reports published Monday by Nature Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Recovery can happen if you have the right circumstances,” said University of Louisville professor Susan Harkema, who co-authored the New England Journal study. The spinal cord “relearns to do things, not as well as it did before, but it can function.”
Chinnock’s success surprised doctors. He underwent 43 weeks of intense physical therapy and stimulator adjustments.