Breakthrough Surgery Helps Paralysed Man Walk

[Miss Panda]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13444036

A US man who was paralysed from the chest down after being hit by a car is now able to stand with electrical stimulation of his spinal cord.
Rob Summers, from Oregon, said standing on his own was "the most amazing feeling".
He can voluntarily move his toes, hips, knees and ankles and also walk on a treadmill while being supported, according to research in the Lancet.

QUOTEBut in that summer he was injured in a hit and run accident and his spinal cord was damaged.
Messages from the brain, which used to travel down the spinal cord, were blocked and he was paralysed.
Doctors surgically implanted 16 electrodes into his spine.
Rob trained daily in trying to stand, walk and move his legs, while electrical pulses were sent to the spinal cord.
Within days he was able to stand independently and eventually he could control his legs and step, with assistance, for short periods of time.
"None of us believed it," said Professor Reggie Edgerton, from the University of California. "I was afraid to believe it."
Rob has also regained other functions such as bladder, bowel and blood pressure control.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New..._Can_Walk_Again

Fantastic breakthrough although they caution that he is the only person they have tried this on so far. And a lot more needs to be done before this could ever be available to the general public.

 

[m3rox]

Yeah, that pretty much sums up the west coast US for ya.

 

[8BitWalugi]

Holy fucknuggets! First Automail, now this!

 

[Nathan Drake]

Bionic arms, electrodes in the spine, so much being done. All of these people being given the chance to move back into an at least semi-normal way of life is amazing. If this ends up being a success, paralysis may not be as big of a deal anymore. I wonder if a procedure such as this would work on all forms of paralysis.

Would the cervical vertebrate react as well as the thoracic, and would either react as well as the lumbar vertebrate? Does the type of injury to it matter?

 

[KingVamp]

Humans are at a stand still my foot.

That awesome!

 

[Fear Zoa]

Is it just me of have we made a lot of medical breakthroughs recently?

 

[Nathan Drake]

Is it just me of have we made a lot of medical breakthroughs recently?

Tons of breakthroughs are happening all of the time, the public is just generally out of tune with them. It's only the ones that society will understand well that make it public widely. These just happen to be some of the biggest stories a lot of the time. The rest, you have to hear through TED talks and such to get to know about. That, or start googling everyday to find proper databases with the most up to date medical journals.

 

[notmeanymore]

Holy fucknuggets! First Automail, now this!

This is actually simpler than the automail, if you think about it.

This is exciting nonetheless.

Now then, cancer?

 

[omgpwn666]

Holy fucknuggets! First Automail, now this!

This is actually simpler than the automail, if you think about it.

This is exciting nonetheless.

Now then, cancer?

A cure for cancer has already been found then the government stepped in and payed the guy who found the cure to get rid of the cure so that people can pay thousands if not millions to stay alive. It helps the countries a lot. Then after all of that Obama sold all of his furniture and dipped into his retirement cash so he could buy some Christmas lights.

 

[yuyuyup]

Breakthrough surgeries kick ass, but we're still probably gonna die from Japanese radiation.

also, rapture.

 

[SamAsh07]

Lol Rapture...anyways

Another day another breakthrough, now we need a tech that revives a dead heart or replace the dead one with Bionic Heart

 

[Bladexdsl]

fuck yeah i love living in the future

 

[FAST6191]

Impressive- I believe the joke ended up something like "a cure for paralysis is 10 years away..... and always will be" (certainly I heard things every year or so for quite some time now). Glad to see things looking up- no doubt somebody will say, probably quite accurately, this was a nice set of coincidences that led to this being possible but I think I am going to be optimistic for once.

 

[injected11]

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. Better, stronger, faster...

For real though, this is amazing. I can't wait to see how far this tech will evolve.

 

[Deleted User]

Wow, one step closer to the bionic dream

 

[nando]

the question is how will this be applied to erectile disfunction.

 

[Deleted member 256505]

the question is how will this be applied to erectile disfunction.

Be careful what you say. Developers of hentai games could be listening in right now.
On-topic: Excellent news, despite the fact that it will likely be available to no one except the most wealthy.

 

[SinHarvest24]

Things is sounding pretty good for the physically disabled, with this and the new advancements in bionic arms i'll say we'll see a cyborg whose mechanical parts outweigh their human parts very soon.

 

[machomuu]

the question is how will this be applied to erectile disfunction.

Be careful what you say. Developers of hentai games could be listening in right now.
On-topic: Excellent news, despite the fact that it will likely be available to no one except the most wealthy.

What does erectile disfunction have to do with hentai?

 

[notmeanymore]

I can't wait until I can interpret Python with my brain. The future is so awesome.

the question is how will this be applied to erectile disfunction.

Be careful what you say. Developers of hentai games could be listening in right now.
On-topic: Excellent news, despite the fact that it will likely be available to no one except the most wealthy.

What does erectile disfunction have to do with hentai?

Abuse of erectile dysfunction aids like viagra fit in with most stories, but I agree, I don't see how a cure of this nature could be used in a hentai.