Paralysed man walks again using power of the mind
A PARALYSED man has walked again using the power of thought.
In a world first, Adam Fritz’s brain waves were harnessed to allow him to move his own legs.
The 26- year- old’s steps were faltering and he needed support, but, remarkably, he managed to walk around 12 feet. The ‘modern miracle’ offers hope to thousands who rely on wheelchairs.
‘It was such an incredible feeling,’ Mr Fritz said yesterday. ‘I didn’t go very far but it was a remarkable “oh my gosh” moment.’
Paralysed people have been helped to walk in the past, but Mr Fritz is the first to use his own legs rather than an exoskeleton – a battery-powered framework around the limbs. Mr Fritz, from Los Angeles, lost the use of both legs after his spinal cord was severed in a motorcycle accident five years ago.
His brain was still able to generate the thoughts needed to move his legs and his muscles were healthy, but the damage to his spine stopped the brain’s signals from reaching his muscles.
To get round this, US researchers placed a cap studded with electrodes on his head that captured his brain activity. This information was sent wirelessly to a computer in a backpack and decoded before being transmitted to electrodes around his knees. These stimulated his muscles, allowing him to swing his legs.
He needed a harness and walking frame and his gait was unnatural, but he felt confident enough while walking to chat to the scientists from the University of California in Irvine, who developed the technology.
Mr Fritz had months of training to re- learn to walk, including physio-therapy to strengthen his muscles, and brain training, which involved playing a video game while wearing the cap and using his thoughts to control the movements of a character on screen. This fired up the part of his brain he would need to move his legs.
Mr Fritz said: ‘You hear about all this research around the world but to be a participant yourself and see the kind of progress that is being made is really something.’ He said the ‘biggest thing’ for him was that it will give hope to others who are paralysed. One of his doctors, An Do, a spinal injury specialist at UC Irvine, said their method was ‘promising’ and an improvement on using exoskeletons.
The technology could use a brain chip instead of a cap in future, the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation reports. Researcher Dr Zoran Nenadic said he hopes this would achieve even greater control because brain waves would be recorded at a higher quality. He said an implant could also give the user sensation in their legs again.
Brian Carlin, of spinal injury charity Aspire, said the breakthrough was ‘fantastic’, pointing out that every eight hours someone in the UK is paralysed by spinal injury.
But he added that we must look at whether this would be of ‘everyday benefit’, explaining many paralysed people would rather regain the use of other muscles, such as those that control the bladder.
‘It was such an incredible feeling’