Swiss research helps paralysed man walk again using implants that read brainwaves

A Dutch man who was paralysed in a cycling accident in 2011 can stand, walk and even climb stairs with the aid of implants that read his brainwaves and communicate with a device in his spinal cord to activate muscles. 

Gert-Jan, 40, suffered a serious spinal cord injury after breaking his neck in a traffic accident in China. But a so-called “digital bridge”, a brain-machine interface that transforms thoughts into actions developed by scientists in Switzerland and France, have enabled him to regain natural control over the movement of his paralysed legs. 

In this short video we see him in Lausanne, shopping in a street market.  

The “digital bridge” is the latest research from a team of neuroscientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and CEA, a French government-funded technological research organisation.  

In Gert-Jan’s case electrodes were implanted above the region of his brain responsible for controlling leg movements. A neurostimulator connected to an electrode array was also placed over the region of the spinal cord that controls leg movement. 

The first implants decode the patient’s intention to move and use wireless signals to send the information to a device in his spine that translates it into stimulation which in turn activates leg muscles to induce the desired movement. 

While the work is at an early stage, the researchers hope that in the future similar miniaturised devices will help stroke patients and paralysed people to walk, move their arms and hands, and control other functions, such as the bladder, which is often affected by spinal cord injuries.