Non-surgical procedure may aid paralysis patients to temporarily move legs

The new method, known as transcutaneous stimulation, uses electrodes strategically placed on the skin of the lower back to deliver an electrical current to the spinal cord. The men also received conditioning to see whether physical training combined with the electrical stimulation could facilitate movement.

Since the men’s legs were suspended the entire time, the movements could not be considered walking.

Roderick Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), echoed this view and believes spinal cord injuries may no longer be “a life sentence of paralysis”. In a previous study by researchers at the University of Louisville, UCLA and the Pavlov Institute of Physiology, electrodes were surgically implanted on the spinal cord.

During the final four weeks of the study, the men were given the drug buspirone, which is often used to treat anxiety disorders.

When the study began, the men’s legs only moved if the stimulation was strong enough to trigger involuntary movements.

In the report detailing their work, the University of California, Los Angeles researchers explain that, to their knowledge, just nine people have until now managed to move their legs while their spine was being stimulated. The men participating in this study have had their paralysis for a minimum of the past 2 years.

The researchers also made extensive recordings of electrical signals generated in the calf muscle and the muscle directly below the calf while the men attempted to flex their feet during stimulation. Researchers say the result suggest that the electrical stimulation may be able to reawaken dormant connections between the spinal cord and the brain. They were able to regain voluntary control of their limbs quickly, indicating that they must have still had neural connections at the injury site. By the end of the study, the participants could move their legs without stimulation, and had the same ability to move as they did while receiving stimulation. Thus, they show that paralyzed individuals might regain at least some control over their limbs. Edgerton has investigated how paralysis can be alleviated.

The hope is that further research can help determine whether non-invasive stimulation can restore function that will truly impact patient lives.

The researchers do not know yet whether patients who are completely paralysed can be trained to fully bear their weight and walk.

Though a non-invasive stimulation could offer advantages over a surgically implanted device, Edgerton says both need to continue to be developed. A noninvasive stimulator could see whether an individual could tolerate neuromodulation, for example, which would then require a surgical implant.

Edgerton says although it is likely it will be years before the new approaches are widely available, he now believes that it is possible to significantly improve quality of life for patients with severe spinal cord injuries, and to help them recover multiple body functions. “But this was ridiculous before, and it is even more ridiculous now”, Edgerton said. “What we need to do is maximize the clinical tool box that we have so that the physician and the patient can select a therapy that is best for them”.

In the 1990s, physiologist Dr. V. Reggie Edgerton met Christopher Reeve at a science convention.