Electricity: Paralysis Cure

History

 
In the late 1700's Giovanni Aldini claimed he could bring a man to life using only electricity. He was one of the first to use the body's natural electrical path ways to stimulate the human body. After his experiments his idea of electrical stimulation was taken even further. Scientists used his experiments to create many technologies and in the late 1900's started to experiment with paralyzed limbs. Scientists found that by sending these simulations throughout the human body they could make the paralyzed limb move.

This was the start of a revolutionary turn in electrical stimulation. Scientists further experimented with this new finding on lab rats and found that when the rats were given something, such as a treat, for moving their paralyzed limbs the rats were able to regain some control in the limb. The more the scientists experimented with these rats the more advanced the movements became. Eventually a man named Rob Summers decided to volunteer as a human trial of the new technology. After his surgery Rob was in therapy for several years learning to use the simulators implanted in his body. Sometime into his therapy Rob started to try and move his legs without the use of the simulators and was successful starting at a small level that eventually lead up to him being able to stand even when the stimulator was turned off.

The stimulation process has shown great promise and is advancing quickly. It is still in the testing stages and being improved with every test.

Simulators

The electrical simulators come in two main types. The first is a surface planted electrode. These work well for stimulating the larger muscles but neglect the more refined muscles. The second is an implanted stimulator system. This system consists of multiple small simulators that are implanted into the fine muscles. A wire lead runs between the implanted simulators and a battery pack. This particular method stimulates the delicate muscles that control finger movement and other finer movements.

The stimulation occurs by an electrical transmission sent to a particular stimulator end. This end provides a small electrical signal to the paralyzed muscles that in return move. This is not unlike the body’s natural process of sending electrical signals from the brain to the muscles through nerve pathways. The only difference is that with these simulators the body’s natural pathways don’t need to be complete.

The Body’s Reaction

After some time using a stimulator on paralyzed limbs, scientists found that with motivation a person can start to control their limb even when the simulators are turned off. This meant that the human body was able to patch the nerve pathways that were once the cause of their paralysis. After a long period of therapy a person could advance their regained control from just moving a finger or toe to being able to stand without assistance or pick up an object of some kind.