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Changing hand function for people with quadriplegia
The hope of the researchers
is that they want to improve
the technology to also help
people who have suffered
a stroke or traumatic
brain injury.
‘I just think about what I want to do,
and now I can do it.’
Scientists have found a way to bypass the nervous system of a man with
quadriplegia by building him an external spinal cord directly linking his
hand to his brain. The feat was made possible by computer software which
replaced the damaged highway between his brain and hand muscles.
The 24-year-old underwent surgery to have a chip implanted in the brain’s
motor cortex area, which controls movement. Burkhart has a pea-sized
chip in his head to read his brain signals, which are then deciphered by a
computer and rerouted to the hand, wrist and finger muscles.
Ian Burkhart who has
quadriplegia as a result of a
diving accident in 2010, was able
to play ‘Guitar Hero’ and swipe a
credit card.
Chad Bouton of the Feinstein
Institute for Medical Research
in Manhasset said; ‘This is
the first time a completely
paralysed person has regained
movement just by using their
own thoughts.’
An electrode sleeve worn
on the right forearm is where
the muscles receive their
instructions from. The chip
was attached on top of the
skull to a ‘connector’ linking it
to a computer which Burkhart
‘trained’ to read his mind and
decode which movements he
wanted to execute.
The command to open, clench
or pinch is then relayed to an
electrode sleeve on Burkhart’s
right arm.
‘When we first hooked
everything up... it was a big
shock,’ he said.