After preparing Summers with two years of physical therapy, the scientists implanted an electrode array over his lumbosacral spine, enabling them to send pulses of electricity directly to his spinal cord. This epidural stimulation amplifies motor commands to the injured
After preparing Summers with two years of physical therapy, the scientists implanted an electrode array over his lumbosacral spine, enabling them to send pulses of electricity directly to his spinal cord. This epidural stimulation amplifies motor commands to the injured area. The team believes it also activates local circuits of the spinal cord that can produce movement but that are not directly controlled by the brain. The spinal cord is "smart, and it's plastic," Edgerton says. "That is, it can change. It can even learn motor tasks." The bursts of electricity, combined with the repetitious movement of the locomotor training, may awaken neural circuits that send impulses to specific body parts. "This can happen without any input from the brain," he says.
Summers, one of more than 1.3 million Americans