A Robotic Suit Is Helping Paralyzed People Feel Their Legs Again

Rekindling Nerves

Going from zero to some functioning is rare in cases of severe spinal cord injury that are classified as “complete,” meaning that there’s a complete disconnect in the nerves of the spine at the level of injury. But it’s not unheard of.

Previous research has shown that in many cases of complete spinal cord injury, some nerves may survive the original trauma. These remaining nerves may have the potential to respond to training and recover some function.

The new findings are consistent with those of other labs and case reports that “have shown that with intensive training, it is possible to regain some walking function, even after very severe injury,” Field-Fote said.

Nicolelis and his colleagues believe that the intensive training may have helped reorganize the remaining neural connections in these patients.

“We might have triggered a process of reorganization in the cortex and spinal cord of these patients ? what we normally refer to as plasticity,” Nicolelis said. “We may have rekindled these remaining nerves to be able to send messages from the brain of the patients to the periphery.”

Mind-Controlled Artificial Bodies

Brain-machine interfaces are at the forefront of attempts to restore mobility to people with various forms of paralysis. Over the past few years, these attempts have included outfitting several patients with chips in their brains and robotic arms, and even restoring the sense of touch from a prosthetic hand. But the advances are still confined to the lab.

The new study is part of a long-term endeavor called the Walk Again Project, an international collaboration between researchers in Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Two years ago, the researchers demonstrated the brain-controlled exoskeleton at the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony in Sao Paolo, Brazil. There, with some help to stand upright, Juliano Pinto, a paralyzed person wearing the exoskeleton, kicked the first ball.