A new non-invasive therapy for people with paraplegia

Researchers from the Alberto Santos Dumont Association for Research Support (AASDAP) in Brazil, in collaboration with EPFL, have developed a non-invasive strategy that combines functional electrostimulation and a brain-machine interface to help people with paraplegia walk again. This rehabilitation approach was tested on two patients, who showed an improvement in their motor skills and a partial neurological recovery. Every year, nearly 500,000 people around the world find themselves living with disability as a result of a traffic accident or other trauma that has damaged their spinal cord. People with severe injuries lose the vast majority of their motor and sensory abilities in their lower limbs. They may also experience secondary conditions resulting from inactivity, such as bedsores and cardiovascular disorders. In order to improve their daily lives and restore as many motor functions as possible, research teams from the Alberto Santos Dumont Association for Research Support (AASDAP) in Brazil, in collaboration with EPFL, have developed a new, non-invasive system for lower-limb neurorehabilitation. Patients use their own brain activity to send electrical impulses to 16 muscles in their legs.