Health & Medicine
Robotics: Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Paralyzed Athlete Walk Again
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Sep 05, 2015 04:40 PM EDT
Marck Pollock, 39, just took his first steps in four years. He was paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a second-story window in 2010. Yet with the help of a robotic exoskeleton developed by scientists at UCLA, he's walking again.
Researchers designed the new paralysis therapy in the form of a bionic suit that helps completely paralyzed patients walk again, according to Nature World Report.
Researchers first treated Pollock with a type of electrical current at selected sites in his spinal cord vertebrate, hoping to reactivate neurons. They also put him in a series of physical therapy sessions, according to the Washington Post. He reported excess sweating and tension and tingling in his lower limbs during the exercises in therapy-something he hadn't experienced since his injury, researchers noted.
Soon after, researchers fitted him with a suit with robotic controls developed by a California company called Ekso Bionics. The device helps the wearer move.
Of course, the idea of wearing a mechanical exoskeleton sounds like something from a Sci-Fi flick and has even been popularized in movies such as "Avatar" and "Iron Man."
The findings will be presented at the proceedings f the 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society this week. Findings revealed that the spinal-cord stimulation enhanced Pollock's ability to move. And though researchers noted that it may not assist those
"Based on this case study it appears that there is considerable potential" for this type of technology
will be difficult to get people with chronic, complete paralysis to walk completely independently, but even if they don't accomplish that, the fact they can assist themselves in walking will greatly improve their overall health and quality of life," V. Reggie Edgerton, senior author and a UCLA professor of integrative biology, said in a statement. "For people who are severely injured but not with complete paralysis there's every reason to believe they could improve even more with these types of interventions.
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First Posted: Sep 05, 2015 04:40 PM EDT
Marck Pollock, 39, just took his first steps in four years. He was paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a second-story window in 2010. Yet with the help of a robotic exoskeleton developed by scientists at UCLA, he's walking again.
Researchers designed the new paralysis therapy in the form of a bionic suit that helps completely paralyzed patients walk again, according to Nature World Report.
Researchers first treated Pollock with a type of electrical current at selected sites in his spinal cord vertebrate, hoping to reactivate neurons. They also put him in a series of physical therapy sessions, according to the Washington Post. He reported excess sweating and tension and tingling in his lower limbs during the exercises in therapy-something he hadn't experienced since his injury, researchers noted.
Soon after, researchers fitted him with a suit with robotic controls developed by a California company called Ekso Bionics. The device helps the wearer move.
Of course, the idea of wearing a mechanical exoskeleton sounds like something from a Sci-Fi flick and has even been popularized in movies such as "Avatar" and "Iron Man."
The findings will be presented at the proceedings f the 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society this week. Findings revealed that the spinal-cord stimulation enhanced Pollock's ability to move. And though researchers noted that it may not assist those
"Based on this case study it appears that there is considerable potential" for this type of technology
will be difficult to get people with chronic, complete paralysis to walk completely independently, but even if they don't accomplish that, the fact they can assist themselves in walking will greatly improve their overall health and quality of life," V. Reggie Edgerton, senior author and a UCLA professor of integrative biology, said in a statement. "For people who are severely injured but not with complete paralysis there's every reason to believe they could improve even more with these types of interventions.
Related Articles
Bionic Eye Helps Man See For The First Time In 10 Years (VIDEO)
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone