The Dutch for 11 years Gert-Jan he no longer walked with just his legs. In 2011, when he was 29, a serious bicycle accident severely injured the nerve fibers in his spine. Deprive him of autonomous use of his legs
Then, after a neuroscientific test by Polytechnic University of LausanneIn Switzerland, Gert-Jan can walk naturally again. By deciding when and how we do it. Wonder? No, science. A new device that enables epidural electrical stimulation was tested on him of the spinal cord. In other words, an artificial structure that acts as a bridge, allowing electrical impulses to pass between neurons and nerve fiber receptors. This gives the brain back the ability to communicate directly with the areas of the spinal cord that control movement.
The report of the test performed on Gert-Jan was published in the journal Nature. The 40-year-old was the first patient to have this innovative technique tested. A step that is already enough to open a new frontier in the recovery of neurological functions, which can also be applied to other areas of rehabilitation, to allow those who have suffered spinal cord injuries to regain the opportunity to become as autonomous and natural as possible to move.
The patient’s story: “Now I’m walking alone again”
The device worn by Gert-Jan remained stable and efficient for over a year, even when the man was home alone, without the researchers’ supervision. “I could stand on my own two feet, I learned to walk properly again
“Of course and I can control my movements and my strength,” said the patient at the press conference.
The system at the base of the digital bridge works as follows: 64 electrodes record the signals from the sensorimotor cortex, are translated into electrical signals and transmitted to the spinal cord.
There they are received by 16 other electrodes and decoded in real time, without the help of a computer. However, all of this still requires the use of crutches and a portable control system stored in a backpack.
The human brain is “pilot” again.
“It’s a digital bridge that we built between the brain and the spinal cord,” said the neuroscientist Gregory CourtineScientific research coordinator in Lausanne, in the press conference organized by Nature – the approach used is completely different from those tested so far.
Indeed, in the case of Gert-Jan, the goal pursued by the researchers was not to give the paralytic the only way to move. But also to be able to do this in a natural and autonomous way: the patient had to regain the ability to adjust his steps according to his desires. For example, to move easily even on uneven and pitted ground, where timely “adjustments” are required. And all of this without these processes having been previously programmed by a computer, a path that Swiss scientists have already taken in earlier experiments.
Thanks to the “digital bridge”, the human brain is returning to the cockpit. At full power to adjust the intensity of motor impulses depending on the situation. According to the researchers, this means “a significant increase in the patient’s quality of life, who can again walk alone around the house, get in and out of the car, and stand with friends at the bar counter.”
In the Nature press conference, Courtine already mentioned the goals to be achieved in the future: “Our next goal is to have much smaller and even less bulky control systems.” We assume that the technology will experience incredible developments thanks to miniaturization So the experimentation continues: In the next step, three more paralyzed patients are included.
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