A man with Parkinson’s disease who fell up to six times a day can now walk several kilometres without falling due to a device that electrically stimulates his spinal cord
By Jason Arunn Murugesu
6 November 2023
Marc, who has severe Parkinson’s disease, can now walk several kilometres without a cane or helper
CHUV 2022/WEBER Gilles
A man with Parkinson’s disease has experienced a substantial improvement in his ability to walk after being fitted with a device that electrically stimulates his spinal cord. The findings, although based on one person’s experience, suggest this technique could be used widely to treat movement deficits in people with the condition.
Around 90 per cent of people with Parkinson’s experience some kind of movement difficulty, says Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Existing treatments include drugs that target parts of the brain affected by a loss of the chemical dopamine, which regulates movement, as well as deep-brain stimulation, which similarly focuses on these brain areas and changes some of the abnormal electrical signals that cause symptoms.
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However, many people with Parkinson’s disease don’t respond to these treatments, particularly if their condition is advanced, says Courtine. He and his colleagues wanted to find out whether directly stimulating the spinal cord in a person with severe Parkinson’s could alleviate their gait-related problems.
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They focused on epidural electrical stimulation (EES), which can modulate the activity of neurons behind locomotor movements. Previous studies showed that the technique can restore standing and walking in people with paralysis following a spinal cord injury.