Through the thorns…
Scientists: exoskeleton and electrodes returned the mobility of the legs to the paralytic
RIA News Neurophysiologists were able to put a completely paralyzed person on his feet thanks to an unusual robotic exoskeleton and a special technique of "contactless" electrical stimulation of the spine, the press service of the University of California in Los Angeles reports (Completely paralyzed man voluntarily moves his legs, UCLA scientists report).
"In the last few weeks of the experiment, my pulse began to reach the mark of 138 beats per minute. This is already an aerobic exercise zone, which I haven't even gotten close to since I was paralyzed and started walking with the help of this robot, but I haven't had stimulation sessions yet. Such an achievement was a very emotional moment for me, since I spent my entire adult life as a professional athlete," said Mark Pollock, a paraplegic who participated in the experiments.
Pollock, according to Reginald Edgerton from the University of California in Los Angeles (USA), spent almost four years in a wheelchair after he fell from a second-floor window and injured his spinal cord. Before that, Pollock was a real celebrity among the disabled – he lost his sight in 1998, but did not give up sports and became the first blind person to reach the South Pole in 2008.
After the fall, Pollock became a participant in the Project Walk program, in which scientists from the University of California are developing systems that will allow fully or partially paralyzed disabled people to regain the ability to move independently and lead a life.
As part of this project, scientists have created a special exoskeleton that monitors the movement of individual muscles on the trunk, arms and other non-paralyzed parts of the body, and uses them to "guess the desires" of the owner and move in a "step-by-step" mode.
Such a robotic suit allowed him to move around, as Pollock notes, but he did it slowly and unhurriedly enough to play sports and perform meaningful actions. Edgerton and his colleagues found a solution to this problem by developing a device that helps the brain transmit signals from an intact part of the spine to its damaged segment using a set of electrodes attached to the skin on the back of a paralytic.
Just a week after the start of electrotherapy and exoskeleton training, Pollock began to move much more actively and even perform the simplest physical exercises. The left leg of the extreme athlete, as Edgerton says, began to move independently, and part of the muscles on the right leg "came to life".
"It will be extremely difficult for us to achieve that completely paralyzed people will start walking completely independently, without the help of therapists, but even if this cannot be achieved, the very fact that disabled people will be able to help themselves when walking, which will improve their quality of life and their state of health," the neurophysiologist concludes.
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08.09.2015