Maybe some of you saw this already.
The title says it all:
Paralysed man walks again thanks to electrodes in his spine.
theguardian.com/science/202...
"A man who was paralysed in a motorcycle accident in 2017 has regained the ability to walk after doctors implanted electrodes in his spine to reactivate his muscles.".
If you've followed any of my past posts, you'll see I am a big believer in the powers of electromedicine.
Whether it be;
Tens, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. nhs.uk/conditions/transcuta...
I have done a lot of tens. Great for some types of pain and relaxes my spasticated legs nicely.
Fes, functional electrical stimulation.
bhamcommunity.nhs.uk/patien...
Makes your muscles move on cue. I have played around with fes, you can buy a unit on Amazon.
youtube.com/watch?v=gY76XH5...
Dbs, deep brain stimulation. stgeorges.nhs.uk/service/ne...
Thankfully I don't need.
Pemf, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy.
london-tv.co.uk/pemf-therap...
I built a pemf unit, there is evidence it helps spasticity.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/230...
Ces, cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-imp...
I built a ces unit unit years ago. There is evidence it helps with all kinds of maladies. Depression, spasms, stress, plenty more. Keith Richards used it to come off Heroin. And Pete Townshend.
Tcds, transcranial direct current stimulation.
hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-imp...
There is evidence it can help with walking:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/265...
A lot of people build units to use at home. I wouldn't.
Tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation.
hopkinsmedicine.org/psychia...
A lot of people build units to use at home. I wouldn't.
Plenty more out there.
Anyway, this man was paralysed from the waist down, he had electrodes implanted in his spine, now he can walk.
I should imagine graceful doesn't describe his gait, but it is one hell of an achievement for science. I studied all of this years ago. The electrical signals that trigger movement flow from the brain down your nerves and to the muscle. They are called action potentials.
Us with spasticity, the demyelination of our spine/nerves is causing the action potentials to leak out. The medicine 4-AP can plug some of the gaps in the myelin and allow some action potentials to go merrily on their way. But it is a weak signal that finally reached the leg muscles.
Speaking for myself, my right leg has far less ability than the left. The spasms tend to hit the right leg more. Where is the demyelination? In the spine, or the leg nerves? Demyelination all the way down?
I asked my neurologist after one of my umpteen MRI's (I must have had around 10 so far. One every six months into the bargain).
Neurologist - "I don't know".
That's that then.
It is not rocket science to replace the action potentials with electrical signals:
Don't watch this video if you care for cockroaches. You have been warned.
backyardbrains.com/products...
youtube.com/watch?v=L0jBzi-...
Or with actual humans:
youtube.com/watch?v=fGMDq3a...
youtube.com/watch?v=gsioAl4...
I built one, and it's easy to control various muscles, but incredibly crude to send the voltage through the skin and on down to the muscle.
A unit in the spine would use a fraction of the power and could target the muscle far more precisely.
Anyway, this article is a great read. Goes to show, if the medicine doesn't save us we could still be walking. Far more chance of this technology coming way down in price, the speed it's moving at. All the big dotcoms are investing in medical electronics. I have nothing bad to say about them on that.
