Slashdot Mirror
Fighting Paralysis With Electricity
the_newsbeagle writes "In spinal cord injuries, the brain's commands can't reach the lower body — so in a ground-breaking experiment at the University of Louisville, researchers are providing artificial commands via electrodes implanted in the spine. The first paralyzed people to try out the tech have already been able to stand on their own, and have regained some bowel and sexual function. A video that accompanies the article also shows paralyzed rats that were able to walk again with this kind of electrical stimulation."
really
In crude ways we've been able to do this for decades. I've seen video a guy who was unable to move from the chest down climb stairs using his own legs. It was from back in the 80's. Wasn't capable of any kind of fine motor control and it would be easy to knock him over, but between the braces and the electrodes that where implanted it worked. I guess they are able to move up the circuit to the spine and implant electrodes there? So? How's this help very much?
Now if you can transfer signals from above the damaged spine to below, THAT would be something to see.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I'm certainly glad I can urinate easily and stand on my right leg without electrodes.
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
The first paralyzed people to try out the tech have already been able to stand on their own, and have regained some bowel and sexual function.
Gives new meaning to the phrase "getting turned on".
http://xkcd.com/644/
I recall when I was in high school watching video of people with similar setups, where electrodes were going to the muscles or spine, and little jolts would make the legs move. It was very jerky and reportedly very draining to the person (since every motion was a sudden thrust).
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
"In spinal cord injuries, the brain's commands can't reach the lower body — so in a ground-breaking experiment at the University of Louisville, researchers are providing artificial commands via electrodes implanted in the spine. The first paralyzed people to try out the tech have already been able to stand on their own, and have regained some bowel and sexual function.
I pray that somewhere out there, a poor paralyzed Japanese girl is finally getting this technology.
You know, just so that after it's implanted, she can exclaim, "Onii-chan, my hips are moving on their own!"
Kind of off-topic but I love seeing stuff like this hit the news. I do IT work at Medtronic. Nothing related to the devices but rather supporting the software that the engineers, scientists, physicians, designers and factory workers use to make these devices. Its an interesting feeling that in the end my work is a little tiny piece of making stuff like this happen. Morally and emotionally I feel great going to a job at a company like this. Here a device like this is helping this man stand and eventually walk again! My prior jobs were all IT jobs in really dismal, "selfish" industries - banking, credit cards, health insurance. Nothing I did helped make the world a better place. The work I did made a CEO richer and that was about it. The companies were built on "How can we cheapen this so we make more money on it." The reason I mention this is I see a lot of IT people who go to their job and feel something missing or don't feel like they contribute to the greater good. I felt that same way for a long time. Then by luck I got in there. I think a lot of us have a moral, emotional, spiritual (or all of the above) compass and this is the kind of stuff that fulfills that.
There's a lot of them and they are really tiny. We have no idea how to form a proper synapse between a conductor and a nerve cell. We don't even know how to tell which one connected where. It's amazing that the current state of the art works at all really.