5/20/2011 PERMALINK
Spinal implant allows paralyzed man to stand and take steps. An implant designed by UCLA neurobiologist V. Reggie Edgerton can activate a patient's spinal nerves just enough to make them responsive to sensory signals coming from the legs. Test on 25-year-old Rob Summers, who was paralyzed below the chest in a car accident in 2006, the implant has allowed him to stand for several minutes on his own, and with help take repeated steps on a treadmill and voluntarily move his hips, knees, ankles, and toes. Researchers say the advance is a breakthrough in the treatment of spinal cord injury, though they caution that it has only so far been tested in a single patient.