Paralysed man learns to move hands after brain implant
- Apr 18, 2016
- EmmaArnold
A man who was left paralysed can now move his fingers thanks to an implant in his brain.
Ian Burkhart from Ohio in the USA suffered a spinal cord injury in a diving accident almost six years ago.
Researchers implanted a chip into Ian's brain which reads the brain signals and stimulates the muscles accordingly.
After being paralysed from the elbows down, Ian worked hard to manage to move his right arm again.
After hours of practice, he can now grasp and move large objects, pour the contents of a glass and even swipe a credit card
Rachel Rees, partner at PotterReesDolan, said:
I was fascinated to learn of this mazing technological and medical advance, which could ultimately transform the lives of not only those people with paralysis caused by spinal cord damage, but if applied in other ways ,who knows, it could also help survivors of brain injury and amputees.
Researchers believe the results of this study mark a significant movement in the field of using computers to bypass spinal cord injuries.
Using electricity to bypass a spinal cord injury is just one of the methods used in this research as a paralysed man in Poland learnt to walk again after cells were transplanted from his nose.