Flexible implants could help the paralyzed walk again

Doctors have been trying to help paralyzed people walk again by giving them implants that stimulate their spinal cords for quite some time. Unfortunately, this isn’t really possible with current technology as these stiff implants actually damage nervous tissue over time. This is why a team of Swiss researchers has created a new, flexible implant that they claim can fix this issue. 

Paralysed patients have been given new hope of recovery after rats with severe spinal injuries walked again through a ‘groundbreaking’ new cyborg-style implant. In technology which could have come straight out of a science fiction novel or Hollwood movie, French scientists have created a thin prosthetic ribbon, embedded with electrodes, which lies along the spinal cord and delivers electrical impulses and drugs. The prosthetic, described by British experts as ‘quite remarkable’, is soft enough to bend with tissue surrounding the backbone to avoid discomfort. Paralysed rats who were fitted with the implant were able to walk on their own again after just a few weeks of training. Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne are hoping to move to clinical trials in humans soon. They believe that a device could last 10 years in humans before needing to be replaced.