Breakthrough Electrode Treatment Lets Paralyzed Man Walk For The First Time In 5 Years

For years, the tone of discussion around spinal cord injuries and paralysis was one of resignation. These injuries are among the most devastating and permanent that a person can suffer, and the care that doctors and researchers have been able to provide in the past has largely centered around pain management and retraining a person’s body for their new mobility needs.

Now, that conversation is changing.

Recent breakthroughs from a team of dedicated researchers are fusing the technological advances of microcomputing with our growing understanding of the human body to empower paralyzed people like never before. For one patient, Michel Roccati, it has made the difference between life in a wheelchair and being able to stand and walk.

Roccati underwent a surgery that connected electrodes to his spine, which carry the impulses from his brain to his muscles and adapt to his motions.

“We have a mini-computer that the patient can carry with him and that delivers the stimulation and adjusts them, synchronizes them with the ongoing movement,” explained Grégoire Courtine, who led the research and development team at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

“This technology is so precise that immediately after the surgery, the patient can walk and stand. But in order to use it outdoor[s], he needs to train… and it will take some more time,” added Jocelyne Bloch, who, together with Courtine, leads the Neurorestore Laboratory.

The Neurorestore Laboratory, which is jointly managed by the Lausanne University Hospital, the University of Lausanne, the Defitech Foundation, and the EPFL, previously saw breakthroughs in their tests on rats and monkeys as they learned more about how the spinal cord’s electrical signals work and how technology can interface with them.

Those findings are now making a difference in the lives of people like Roccati, as the team looks at how to replicate their success and bring hope to people who have long feared that their conditions are irreversible.

Read the team’s findings directly from the source here, or watch a video about Roccati’s rehabilitation below!

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