According to research leader Sanjay Harhangi, standing for the patients felt like a special moment. “Within five days, without any form of rehabilitation or training and after years of complete paralysis. That is a great result.”
Coincidence
Inserting the electrical shock device is relatively easy, says Harhangi, who accidentally discovered that stimulating the nerve node might help treat spinal cord injuries.
That stimulation has already been used to address nerve pain, but some patients have had the side effect of moving their legs just like that, he says. “When I heard that at a symposium about pain, I was made to think. Could you use this button to control leg muscles and make paralyzed people walk again?”
Need more research
The latter is still future music, he emphasizes. Erasmus MC research is still in the early stages and, according to the researchers, provides only the first evidence that stimulation of the nerve node can activate the thigh muscles.
Now they have to find out, for example, whether they can also have the legs of spinal cord injury patients make walking movements. And walking requires more than just leg activity, Harhangi said. For example, the stability of the hull plays a role. “We also want to investigate that further.”
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