New Technology Helps Spinal Injury Patients Move Limbs

Brain and spinal injuries are some of the most devastating injuries impacting persons involved in bicycle accidents. Both of these are catastrophic injuries, and there is no complete cure for these injuries. Therefore, a new announcement by the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Battelle provides very encouraging new to California bicycle accident lawyers.

According to researchers, a 22-year-old quadriplegic is now the first patient to use the electronic bypass technology that directly reconnect the brain with muscles. The technology actually helps persons who suffered paralysis as a result of spinal cord injury to voluntarily and functionally control paralyzed limbs. The quadriplegic patient is the first in a group of five participants who have been chosen for a clinical study into the benefits of the device.

According to the researchers, the procedure works very much like a heart bypass surgery to bypass electrical signals. In this procedure, the electrical signals are taken from the brain, and go directly to the muscles, without touching the site of the injury. The technology is based on algorithms that analyze the person’s brain activity, which translate the neuro impulses from the person’s brain and transmit this information to the person’s paralyzed limb. In the case of this patient, his brain signals actually bypassed his injured spinal cord, and moved into his hand, allowing him to move his paralyzed hand. The technology is called NeuroBridge.

During a typical bicycle accident, when a bicyclist is thrown several feet away from the bicycle and lands on concrete with an impact, some of the most serious injuries that can occur involve the spinal cord and head. Fortunately, in recent years, there has been significant progress in developing technologies that help patients who have been paralyzed as a result of the spinal cord injury, move their limbs again.