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A recent medical study revealed that 3 people who were paralyzed regained the ability to walk again, which gives hope to a large number of patients in the future.
According to the study published in the newspaper "Nature Medicine", the three people were completely paralyzed, and then regained the ability to move, after undergoing the electrical stimulation system in the area known as the "epidural": What is meant by the "epidural space"; It is the anatomical space in the spine located in the outer part of the spinal canal.
Professor and researcher in neurosciences and technologies at the Swiss University of Lausanne, Gregoire Courtine, said that this new medical technique was applied to people who had severe injuries to the spinal cord or spinal cord. He explained that the injured did not have the ability to feel the legs, and they were not able to move. When a spinal cord injury occurs, the connection between the brain and other parts of the body is lost, but previous studies have said that some patients retain some ability to connect.
When the patient is not injured in the spinal cord, nerves in the spinal cord use the signals to communicate with the brain, to move the legs. When a spinal cord injury occurs, these signals become too weak to cause movement.
In this modern medical achievement, a paddle-shaped device was inserted into the patient's body, in order to stimulate nerve signals until the person was able to walk.
The researchers attached the wires of this electrode to a neurostimulator implanted under the skin in the abdominal area.
Thanks to this technology, patients were able to communicate with the implanted device, in order to choose the movement they want to perform, such as walking or standing.
But a researcher in neurosurgery at the "Mayo Clinic", Peter Gran, considered this study "a big step forward, but there is a need to clarify what is meant by walking."
Patients were able to walk about 300 steps already, but with the help of supports, and this remains a glimmer of hope for many of those who have been forced by the disease to stay in one place that they can only leave by means of a wheelchair.
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