A therapy that helped some paraplegics learn to walk again on their own:
Thomas, now 23, is one of several people with spinal cord injuries who are standing, taking steps and — in her case — walking without assistance, thanks to an experimental combination therapy. In a research study at the University of Louisville, Thomas and three others had a device surgically implanted on their spinal cords to stimulate electrical activity, accompanied by months of daily physical therapy. In the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the University of Louisville reported that two of the subjects could stand and take limited steps at the end of the study, and two were able to walk independently — Thomas and another patient, Jeff Marquis. The research was supported by a charitable foundation, the University of Louisville Hospital and device maker Medtronic. A simultaneous case report published in Nature Medicine reported that a single patient with a complete spinal cord injury at the Mayo Clinic was also able to take steps and walk with trainer assistance with electrical stimulation and intensive physical therapy.
I read her story and it reminded me a lot of my own rehab from my stroke. My student-therapist’s name was Sandra, and she made a paper device to wrap around my shoe so she could pull it forward as I tried to take a step. After a while, we didn’t need the device, and then one day she said “We’re both going to stand up while you walk today.”
I met folks there who weren’t so lucky, though, and probably won’t ever get up out of their wheelchairs, and I thought about them when I read this article yesterday.
It is really amazing what science can do! The coordination between electrical, biological, medical, and all of the others will truly revolutionize human kind.