Author: Antonio Regalado
Two new reports suggest that electrically stimulating the spinal cords of accident victims can let them walk again.
Long walk: Jered Chinnock was paralyzed at the waist in 2013 while riding a snowmobile. After having an electric stimulator implanted, he was able to walk 111 yards with assistance. The Mayo Clinic reported the results in Nature Medicine yesterday.
How it works: Nobody is entirely sure, although the electrical shocks must fill in for the missing nerve signals from the brain. Doctors at the University of Louisville reported on four other cases in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some of the patients have been able to go home and get around with a walker.
Next steps: In the future, spinal injury patients may receive a brain implants which get connected to stimulators in their spines, restoring the brain-body connection, and perhaps enabling more fluid movements. This kind of brain-machine interface has already been tested successfully in monkeys.