Wireless Bridge Between Brain And Spinal Cord Enables Paralyzed Man To Walk And Climb Stairs
Spinal cord injuries are among the worst possible outcomes of motor vehicle accidents; the greatest risk of them occurs when a car strikes a pedestrian, a bicycle, or a motorcycle. In their mildest forms, spinal cord injuries cause weakness and chronic pain in the lower body, or all parts of the body below the site of the injury. More severe spinal cord injuries cause paralysis and lack of sensation in the affected body parts. People with spinal cord injuries require extensive treatment and therapy, and many require specialized wheelchairs and modifications to their houses. Research on treatment of spinal cord injury has enabled an increasing number of patients to regain an increasing amount of function in the affected parts of their bodies. Even if you are able to continue working after your injury, the cost of medical care and medical devices for management of spinal cord injuries is very high. A Columbia car accident lawyer can help you get the money you need if you suffered spinal cord injuries as a result of a traffic accident.
Brain-Spine Interface Offers Hope for People With Spinal Cord Injuries
Gert-Jan Oskam is originally from the Netherlands, but when he was traveling in China in 2011, he suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of a bicycle accident. As a result, he lost the ability to walk and to move his legs. He still had feeling in his lower body and was able to lift one of his heels, because a few of the connections between his brain and the parts of the spinal cord below the injury still worked. Earlier this year, he participated in a study at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland in which doctors implanted one device in his brain and another near his spinal cord so that the two devices could communicate with each other. He also had a spinal cord stimulator inserted. Spinal cord stimulators and brain-spine interfaces have both been used in spinal cord injury patients before, but this is the first time they have been used together.
Now Oskam can walk and climb stairs. The devices seem to be rebuilding the connections between his brain and spinal cord, since he now has some ability to walk with crutches even when the devices are turned off.
The prognosis for people with spinal cord injuries has been steadily improving for decades. The treatment you receive right after the injury makes a difference, as does the availability of therapies and medical devices. Working with a personal injury lawyer can help you have access to the resources you need while living with a spinal cord injury.
Let Us Help You Today
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you are living with a spinal cord injury that occurred as a result of a preventable accident. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
science.org/content/article/paralyzed-man-walks-naturally-thanks-wireless-bridge-brain-spine
