WhatistheWalkAgainproject?
About six years ago, I decided to start an
international collaboration with the goal of
accelerating the development of ‘brain-machine
interfaces’ and the potential application of this
technology in rehab medicine. We started with
eight patients who’d suffered anything that caused
dramatic, traumatic injuries to the spinal cord.
Howdoesabrain-machineinterfacework?
We used a cap fitted with electrodes that can record
the motor commands the brain is producing. The
interface translates those commands into digital
signals that artificial VR devices can understand.
Onthesleevesofashirt,westitchedvibrating
elements that could deliver tactile information to
the skin on the arms of patients. As the patients still
had feeling in their arms, the shirt could simulate
the sensation of touching the ground. Once they’d
trained their brains in this way, they moved into a
robotexoskeleton.Everytimethepatientwalked,
they would receive information about ground
contact via the shirt. By combining this with visual
feedback,wefooledthebrainintogeneratingakind
of phantom limb sensation. The patients reported
that they felt their legs moving.
Whendidpatientsregainmovement?
In the first 12 months, 50 per cent of our patients
hadtobereclassifiedfromcompleteparaplegia
[totalparalysisof thelowerlimbs]topartial
paraplegia [some sensation and movement], which
isamajorstep.Onepatientdroppedoutofthis
study because he had to move, but the remaining
seven patients, after 28 months of training, are
now classified as partial paraplegics. They train
foraboutonehouraweek.It’sdifferentfrom
classical techniques, in which the patient is a
passive recipient of physiotherapy – the patient is
actively engaged in every single manoeuvre. We
RIGHT:First,thepatients
usedtheirbrainwavesto
controladigitalavatarof
themselves,viaanOculus
RiftVRheadset
“50percentofourpatientshadtobe
reclassifiedfromcompleteparaplegiato
partialparaplegia,whichisamajorstep”
NEUROSCIENCE
PHOTOS: DUKE CENTER FOR NEUROENGINEERING X
Eight paraplegic patients have regained some movement and feeling
in their legs thanks to rehabilitation with virtual reality and robot
exoskeletons. Research leader Prof Miguel Nicolelis explains
DISCOVERIES