Although no medical cure currently exists for spinal cord injury, paralyzed patients in the future could be able to walk again thanks to robotic exoskeleton technology, being developed all around the world. A team of Belgian researchers is working on a mind-controlled variant called Mindwalker, a system that converts electroencephalography (EEG) signals from the brain, or electromyography (EMG) signals from shoulder muscles, into electronic commands to control the exoskeleton.
The Mindwalker project (also known as: Mind-controlled orthosis and VR-training environment for walk empowering) is a three-year initiative supported by 2.75 million euros in funding from the European Commission. The ultimate goal of the project is to help paralyzed people who spend their lives in a wheelchair get back them on feet by bypassing the spinal cord entirely and routing brain signals to the robotic exoskeleton.
Medical researchers have successfully enabled a paralyzed monkey to move its hand, by delivering messages from the brain directly to the muscles, completely bypassing the spinal cord. This is a breakthrough for spinal-cord injuries, it opens doors to future brain implants that could restore movement in paralysed limbs.
A new Northwestern Medicine brain-machine technology delivers messages from the brain directly to the muscles – bypassing the spinal cord – to enable voluntary and complex movement of a paralyzed hand. The device could eventually be tested on, and perhaps aid, paralyzed patients.
The research project will develop bio-inspired paradigms underlying the RunBot walking robot into rehabilitation technology for spinal cord injury. The RunBot was developed at Glasgow University and is the fastest robot of its kind, revolutionising the way in which we think about walking (http://www.berndporr.me.uk/ijrr). The walking pattern of the RunBot is generated by the simple idea that ground contact information is used to trigger the walking cycle. We now wish to use this new paradigm as a model to develop new orthetic devices to help people with walking disabilities or with spinal injuries.
Researchers have discovered that a cancer drug, Taxol, can reduce deterioration of the cytoskeleton and scar tissue following spinal cord injuries in rats.
A weakened cytoskeleton and impenetrable walls of scar tissue are considered by many to be the main obstacles of regeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord.
The researchers claim Taxol was effective in promoting regeneration of injured spinal cord nerve cells in rats following spinal cord lesions. Only a few weeks following the spinal cord lesions and Taxol application, rats showed significant improvement in movements.
