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Scientists Restore Walking After Spinal Cord Injury

Posted by kdawson on from the man-who-mistook-his-legs-for-a-pair-of-scissors dept.

Spinal cord damage blocks the routes that the brain uses to send messages to the nerve cells that control walking. Until now, doctors believed that the only way for injured patients to walk again was to re-grow the long nerve highways that link the brain and base of the spinal cord. For the first time, a UCLA study shows that the central nervous system can reorganize itself and follow new pathways to restore the cellular communication required for movement. The lead researcher said, "This pessimistic view [that severe injury to the spinal cord means permanent paralysis] has changed over my lifetime, and our findings add to a growing body of research showing that the nervous system can reorganize after injury."

4 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Anecdote by Wordplay · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ah, I see he cites that famous source, "a psychological study."

    Here's something slightly more specific, with some references.

    http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1997-03/858984531.Ns.r.html

  2. Re:Anecdote by Yetihehe · · Score: 4, Informative

    They would try it, but broken spinal cord develops scar tissue that axons can't penetrate.

    --
    Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
  3. Re:Anecdote by BESTouff · · Score: 3, Informative

    I know that one ! (My stepfather used to work in that field)
    Spinal cord injuries may be repaired (even self heal) when you're harmed in the higher part of the spinal cord, near the brain. Counterintuitively, when it's cut near the bottom, it's nearly always definitive. Why ? Because the irrigation system is way more fragile in the lower part, and that's often where the problem is. When part of the spinal cord doesn't receive blood anymore, necrosis happens fast and then you can't do anything anymore.

  4. Re:Right-side-up vision is learned, not hardwired by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Your brain compensates for flaws in your vision more than people think. People would be suprised how shitty their eyes really are and how much the brain makes up for it. I saw a show on the discovery channel. It illistrated how your vision, esp. behind your optic nerve, has holes in it. They demonstrated how much your brain just fills in that part by what it thinks should go there.

    it was pretty amazing, and pretty scary. i had to drive the next day.

    --

    Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification