A slight movement of the mind can now be transmitted along the spine, causing movement in paralyzed limbs that previously refused to obey the brain's commands. The concept, once considered a phenomenon related to the realm of science fiction, is getting closer to reality thanks to new research by scientists, reports HealthDay.
In a study published in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, led by biomedical engineer Ismael Seanez, have studied this phenomenon.
Seventeen participants without spinal cord injuries wore EEG capsules to record brain activity as they moved their legs, or imagined moving their legs. The resulting data trained the decoder to distinguish between active and imagined movements, Focus reports. The decoder was even able to predict the intention of movement even in the absence of physical movement, triggering external stimulation of the spinal cord to generate a real signal for the leg.
The new approach uses the similarities between brain signals during real and imagined movements. By focusing on intentions, rather than actions, the system eliminates the need for physical activity to train the decoder, which is a great advantage for people suffering from paralysis.
The authors believe that the non-invasive nature of this method, which uses external electrodes to record EEG and stimulate the spinal cord, increases its potential for clinical application.
Functional electrical stimulation (FES), which uses low-energy electrical impulses to induce muscle contractions, has long been used in various rehabilitation processes. Integrating FES with brain-computer interfaces could improve the effectiveness of therapy for severe spinal cord injuries.
In the future, the aforesaid research team plans to develop a comprehensive decoder that can interpret the motor intentions of a wide range of people in different conditions. Such a tool would facilitate the rehabilitation process, eliminate the need to train individual decoders, and potentially speed up recovery time.
This research is a significant step towards restoring mobility to people with spinal cord injuries. By “translating” thoughts into movement through non-invasive manipulation, it opens up new possibilities for the rehabilitation of immobile patients and deepens scientists’ understanding of the brain’s ability to adapt and recover through technology.
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