Advertisement

Bursts of electricity aid paralyzed

TORONTO, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A new treatment utilizing tiny bursts of electricity reawakens paralyzed muscles in people with incomplete spinal cord injuries, researchers in Toronto say.

Dr. Milos R. Popovic, a senior scientist at Toronto Rehab and head of the rehabilitation engineering laboratory, says functional electrical stimulation therapy, which uses low-intensity electrical pulses generated by a pocket-sized device, worked considerably better than conventional occupational therapy alone to increase patients' ability to pick up and hold objects.

Advertisement

"This study proves that by stimulating peripheral nerves and muscles, you can actually 'retrain' the brain," Popovic says in a study. "A few years ago, we did not believe this was possible."

Unlike permanent FES systems, the one designed by Popovic and colleagues is for short-term treatment to make muscles move in a patient's limb.

The theory is that after many repetitions, the nervous system can "relearn" the motion and eventually activate the muscles without the device, Popovic explains.

Latest Headlines