Paraplegic man walks again
New treatment has seen a 26-year-old American man walk again
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White House Correspondent
A paraplegic man has walked again.
The incredible treatment reroutes signals from the patient's brain to electrodes on his knees.
The patient is a 26-year-old American man, who had lost the use of his legs due to a spinal injury.
He was taught to generate recognisable walking signals in his brain.
Then by his 20th session he was able to support weight on both his legs.
If this method works in others, it could be replicated with a brain implant to recreate feeling in the limbs.
It is believed to be the first time that anyone with paraplegia due to spinal injury has walked several paces under the control of their own brain and leg muscles, scientists said.
The man was never expected to walk again following an accident five years ago that damaged his spinal cord and blocked the nerve impulses between his brain and legs which are needed for walking.
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