Virtual sailing program helps disabled

Susan Hendricks reports on a program helping spinal cord injury patients gain strength and self-confidence in sailing. Continue Reading »

First Mind-Controlled Robotic Leg Put Through Its Paces

A robotic leg prosthesis controlled entirely by brain waves could be a game changer for victims of spinal cord injury

With the Paralympics in full swing in London this week, it’s interesting to see the extraordinary advances being made in prosthetic limb technology.

Today, An Do at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California and a few pals say they’ve built and tested a prosthetic lower limb that can be controlled in real time by EEG (electroencephalogram) signals fed into a computer. Continue Reading »

University of Louisville researchers help paraplegic stand with breakthrough research

A team of scientists from the University of Louisville and two California universities have used electrical stimulation and rehabilitation to help a paraplegic man stand and take steps with assistance — a breakthrough with implications for millions of paralyzed people around the world.

Rob Summers, a 25-year-old former college baseball player from Oregon, was paralyzed below the chest after a hit-and-run car accident in July 2006. Now, he can now push himself to a standing position and stand for up to four minutes on his own.

He can also make repeated stepping motions with help, and voluntarily move his toes, ankles, knees and hips.

His success is the subject of a study published Friday in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet. Continue Reading »

Leeds war victim is bionic marvel

War veteran Adam Douglas has become a Bionic Man in his battle to recover from horrific injury.

The 43-year-old suffered horrendous spinal damage after he was blown up by a rock-propelled grenade.

He was one of the first casualties of the 2003 Iraq war and spent nine months in hospital being treated for a double back fracture and spinal cord injury.

Adam, from Fearnville, Leeds, had to use walking sticks and was unable to control his bladder or bowel.

But now a £20,000 operation to have electrodes surgically implanted into his tailbone – attached to two pace-makers hidden under skin in his lower back – has given him his dignity back. Continue Reading »

Project Mina Enables Upright Mobility for Those Who Have Lost the Ability to Walk

IHMC Unveils the MINA Robotic Device

PENSACOLA, Fla., April 5, 2011 — Today, Dr. Kenneth Ford, Director and CEO of the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC), joined institute researchers to unveil Mina, a robotic exoskeleton developed to restore ambulation for individuals afflicted with paraplegia, hemiplegia, paresis, asthenia, and functional muscle loss. Developed by the IHMC robotics team led by Dr. Peter Neuhaus and Dr. Jerry Pratt, Mina acts as a pair of robotic legs that assist people, who have lost their ability to walk, in regaining upright mobility when outfitted with the device. Future applications of Mina are envisioned to span from rehabilitating those with stroke and spinal cord injuries, to augmenting human strength capabilities when operating in complex mobility environments. Continue Reading »

Wearable robots may help those who are paralyzed

Study says sensory input can be added to brain-machine interfaces

Brain-machine interfaces — devices that let users control electronics with their minds — have long enabled paralyzed individuals to perform everyday tasks such as sending e-mails and playing video games. But the problem with such interfaces is that they tend to lack the feeling of movement that typically goes along with these activities. Continue Reading »

SMU leads $5.6M research center for fiber optic interface to link robotic limbs, human brain

Lightning-fast connections between robotic limbs and the human brain may be within reach for injured soldiers and other amputees with the establishment of a multimillion-dollar research center led by SMU engineers.

Funded by a Department of Defense initiative dedicated to audacious challenges and intense time schedules, the Neurophotonics Research Center will develop two-way fiber optic communication between prosthetic limbs and peripheral nerves. Continue Reading »

London marks 2-year countdown to Paralympics

LONDON — London will mark the two-year countdown to the homecoming of the Paralympics on Sunday, celebrating the growing prominence of the event and its start in England in 1948.

More than 500,000 people have already registered interest in buying tickets on the London 2012 website for the 12-day event, and organizers hope to attract a global TV audience of 4 billion. Continue Reading »

New hope for spinal cord injury victims

First breathing pacemaker comes to Israel.

The first breathing pacemaker of its kind that regulates the pace of respiration in victims of spinal cord damage has been implanted in Israel.

Yedidya Knopf, a 22-year-old resident of Jerusalem’s Alyn Rehabilitation Hospital who was seriously injured in a road accident nine years ago, was operated on a month ago at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. Continue Reading »

ICORD: A world without barriers – i2eye with Rick Hansen

Rick Hansen talks about cutting-edge spinal cord research being conducted at the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries Continue Reading »