An experimental technique is making waves in the medical community for its possibility to restore those with spinal cord injuries their free movement. A research team in Switzerland has pioneered the use of epidural electrical stimulation, or EES, to allow paraplegics voluntary movement, even when their own nerves aren’t firing.
For this procedure, multiple small electrodes are implanted into the subject’s spinal cord. Signals are wirelessly sent to the electrodes, which then fire quick bursts of stimulating electricity to the spinal cord and throughout the body, similar to a normal nervous system. This process not only stimulates the nerve connections that are already there, but prompts the creation of new nerve connections to replace damaged ones. Several patients who had been paralyzed for years were able to walk with only minor assistance required after just a week of calibrating the electrodes. After five months of physical therapy, all three patients could walk unassisted on a treadmill for an entire hour without any muscle exhaustion or impairment. They even regained voluntary limb movement, even when the electrodes weren’t firing.
The process still requires more testing, as even though the three patients took well to it, not all patients might. It also needs to be simplified and standardized for regular medicine practice. Still, the fact that the research team is even thinking that far ahead with this goes to show how promising this procedure is for those with spinal cord injuries.
